


Conspiracy of Norma

by FiredUpAuthor, minnieears



Series: The Nine of Norma and their Clones [1]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Bounty Hunters, F/M, Force-Sensitive Original Character(s), How Do I Tag, Self-Doubt, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Strangers to Lovers, Tags Are Hard, Tags May Change, The Force, senator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:39:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 29,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26752963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiredUpAuthor/pseuds/FiredUpAuthor, https://archiveofourown.org/users/minnieears/pseuds/minnieears
Summary: Jai Yang has just recently been appointed to be the new Senator of Norma, a member of the Neutral Systems. She has been sent to Coruscant to insure that Norma stays out of the war. Having been chosen personally by Empress Artemisia, ruler of Norma. But, unbeknownst to her, she is being hunted by someone in her past. When her life is threatened by this unseen person Clone Commander Fox is assigned to protect her.
Relationships: Commander Fox/Original Character, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Series: The Nine of Norma and their Clones [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2040190
Comments: 32
Kudos: 15





	1. A New Senator

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first fanfiction I've ever written, so please be kind.

“Madam, we will be arriving at Coruscant,” the captain of the ship said.   
Jai turned to look at the man from over her shoulder.   
“Thank you, Captain.”  
The man nodded, then he left the new Senator of Norma to her own devices. Turning back to the mirror in front of her, she continued to plait her silver hair. After she finished the plait, Jai sat and stared into the mirror. She didn’t want to admit that she was nervous, but she was. There were so many people counting on her, her young Empress being one of them. Norma was a member of the Neutral Systems, and the Republic was wanting to set up a base in the Yggdrasil System.   
“We are making our final approach to Coruscant,” came a voice over the intercom.   
Jai took a deep breath, stood, and smoothed out the plains of her crimson dress.   
“My Lady,” said one of her handmaidens, one that the Empress insisted she have, “we should be making our way to the bridge.”  
She nodded and started tugging on a lose strained of hair.   
“My Lady, you shouldn’t do that,” scolded the girl, whose name she couldn’t remember.   
Jai frowned at the girl but said nothing and tucked the hair away.   
“Are you alright, Gondul?” Rota, her one friend on this whole ship, asked.  
“I felt less nervous during that campaign on Almer.”  
The two women laughed at the memory.   
“You’ll be fine, Gondul. I know you will.”   
“You think so? I’m not much of a Politian.”   
“The Empress chose you for a reason. You must trust her intuition.”   
“I never said I didn’t.”  
The ship shook violently as it landed, many of the handmaidens and some crew almost lost their balance, while Jai and Rota remained perfectly still. Jai took another deep shaky breath, and Rota placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.   
“This way, Senator.”  
They lead her and Rota to the entrance of the ship as the door opened, to reveal the Coruscant skyline. An old man, a young woman, and several clones stood on the landing platform. The wind blowing their hair and clothes in all different directions.   
As Senator Jai walked out on the platform, the man and woman bowed to her.   
“Hello, my dear. I am Chancellor Palpatine of the Galactic Senate,” said the old man, holding out his hand, which Jai took. His grip was a lot stronger than a man of his age should have, which Jai found odd.   
“Hello, Chancellor,” she said with an incline of her head. “It’s an honor.”  
Jai turned to the woman. She was pretty, with brown hair and brown eyes.  
“Hello, I’m Padme Amidala, Senator from Naboo.”  
The two women shook hands.   
“Hello, I am Jai Yang. Her Excellency, Empress Artemisia, sends her greetings. She wishes for me to help settle all the issues concerning the Yggdrasil System.”  
“I’m afraid I can’t stay, I must get back to the Senate,” said the Chancellor.  
The women said their goodbye to the man, leaving them, and the clones, alone. Jai felt herself shiver, which Senator Amidala noticed, and smiled.  
“You must be cold,” she said it more of a statement, then a question.  
“Yes, a little. Coruscant is much colder than Norma.”   
“Why don’t we go inside then.”  
Coruscant was so different from Norma, even from the little she had seen of it. She was already missing home. Coruscant looked like it was made of nothing but building and iron. Norma was full of life, animals, and plants. The color was everywhere on Norma. Here it just seemed to be various shades of beige. And the air was fowler here.  
Keep an open mind, Jai. Your people are counting on you. Besides, you might like your time here. But a small voice in the back of her mind whispered I doubt it.  
“So, tell me,” said Amidala, “what is Norma like? I’ve never been to.”  
Jai paused for a moment, trying to pick the right words.  
“Very… different from Coruscant.”  
“How so?”  
“Norma is so full of life. We are famous for our forests. We take great pride in them.”  
Amidala smiled, seeming to understand.   
“Yes, Naboo is similar.”

“Ahh… there she is,” said a voice from the shadows, gazing at the two Senators through binoculars. “How very interesting, that the Empress would send her. It’s almost like she was sending me a present for my birthday.” The voice laughed maniacally.

Jai stopped dead in her tracks, whipping her head around to gaze intently at the building across the roadways. Getting a very uneasy feeling from them.  
“Is everything alright?”  
The presence passed, but the uneasiness did not.   
“Yes,” she lied, “just tired I suppose.”   
“Of course, you must be. Norma is in the Unknown Regions. You’ve traveled a long way, haven’t you? Commander Fox,” she gestured to a clone all in crimson, similar to the color of her dress, behind her, “can finish showing you the way to your room. I hope to see you soon.”  
Jai waved goodbye to the young woman, who couldn’t be much older than herself. Not really knowing what to think about her. She seemed nice enough, but something told Jai that they might disagree on certain things. Jai didn’t want to make enemies. She already had enough, to begin with.   
“Senator,” came the voice of the clone commander, pulling her out of her reverie. She turned to look at the man, “please follow me.”  
“Of course,” she said, picking up her ridiculously long skirt to follow him. She wondered what he looked like underneath his helmet. She had met very few clones, and all of them had had their helmets on. She resisted the urge to ask him to take it off, knowing that the people behind her be scandalized if she ever did such a thing. Forgetting that she was in fact not a noble. Jai and her family had been a common-born, only until a short time ago.  
“Here you are,” said the Commander… Something.  
“Thank you… I’m sorry I’m terrible with names. What was it again?” she asked as the clone opened the door for her.  
Someone behind her made an indignant noise, which she ignored. The clone chuckled quietly, not seeming to be offended.   
“Fox, ma’am.”  
“Thank you, Commander Fox.”  
With that, the clones left. Some even waving goodbye to her, which she returned with a smile.   
A woman, her head handmaiden, or Lady’s Maid, whatever you wanted to call her, loudly cleared her throat. Soaring the Senator’s mood. She had tried to protest the fact that she needed an entourage with the Empress, stating that she wasn’t a noblewoman, and therefore did not need one. But Her Excellency was adamant, saying that the Val’in Empire needed to represent all its glory to the Galactic Senate. The Empress was so much like her late mother. Stubborn. In the end, Jai had begrudgingly agreed to it.  
Jai turned to glare at the woman, making it no secret how she felt about having these people follow her every move.  
Rota was the one who broke the tension, by heartily clapping Jai on the back and smiling.   
“Come now, no glaring. It’ll give you wrinkles. And you don’t want that now do you?”  
Jai playfully shoved Rota off her shoulder.   
Rota smirked.  
“Think about all those prospective husbands you’ll chase away with all those wrinkles.”  
Now she smacked her.  
“And what about you? What about all those prospective wives you’ll chase away by being here? Hm?”  
Rota shrugged, not taking the bait.   
“I’m still young. And you forget, I’m second-in-command of the Yggdrasil Army.”  
“And? Your point?”  
Rota stuck her tongue out at her. The two dissolved into a fit of giggles.   
“My Lady,” said the woman from earlier. “You must report to Her Excellency.”  
“Yes, I know,” she sighed.  
She and Rota walked into what would be her bedroom, once the door was closed, a frown graced the Senator’s face.  
“Tell me again why I have to do this?”  
“Because Her Excellency chose you for this mission,” Rota said absentmindedly while punching in the code to call the Empress.  
“But why not pick someone who knows what they’re doing? Like one of her uncles.”  
“The Empress has been accused of nepotism enough as it is. You know she can’t take another hit like that. Especially so early in her reign.”  
Jai made a noise of agreement and folded her arms.  
“Here we go!”   
The image of Empress Artemisia appeared before them. The two women quickly fell to their knees before her.   
“Please rise,” said the young sixteen-year-old. The women rose. “What do you have to report?”  
“Nothing yet, Your Excellency. We’ve just arrived on Coruscant,” said Jai.  
“I see. Thank you, Gondul. Anything else?”  
“Yeah, I have something I’d like to ask.”  
Her Excellency waited, a knowing smile on her young face. Having already guessed what this complaint would be about.  
“Do I have to have all this,” Jai gestured around her, “I mean no disrespect, Your Excellency, but I don’t need all this. I especially don’t need this,” she grabbed a fistful of the dress she wore.  
Empress Artemisia smiled kindly at her.   
“I understand that you don’t like any of the courtly fluff, but it is necessary. We must make a good impression.”  
Jai pouted.  
“Can I at least send the handmaidens back? I don’t need them. I am perfectly capable of doing everyday things by myself.”  
Again, the Empress only smiled, it was starting to get on Jai’s nerves. But she was Jai’s anointed sovereign, so she refrained from complaining farther. At least, not to her face.  
“Give them a chance. Please, Gondul. If in a few weeks you still don’t want them around, you are welcome to send them back.”  
This surprised Jai. She wasn’t expecting Her Excellency to actually agree to send them back. She could survive a few weeks with them. Surely it wouldn’t be that bad.  
“Another thing,” at this the Empress’s expression turned serious, and it startled Jai with just how much she resembled Empress Marie. “we’ve received word that there is someone who does not want you on Coruscant.”  
Both Jai and Rota tensed at this.  
“Could it be…”  
“It’s possible. But we’re not sure. So be on your guard. And Rota, I will need you back here soon. You can stay a few rotations, but you are needed. Sigrun needs help against raiders.”  
“Yes, Your Excellency.”   
“Be on your guard. And be safe.”  
With that, the transmission ended, and Jai and Rota looked at each other.  
“Well, we knew this wouldn’t be easy.”


	2. Senate Attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote most of this last night, due to my insomnia kicking my ass.

When Jai woke up the next morning, she almost started panicking, not knowing where she was. But then the memories of the previous day came flooding back. Pushing herself up, she stared out at the dark skyline of Coruscant, still not completely sure that she was really here. She started curling a strand of hair around her finger and started tugging. Jai closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her thoughts were in disarray. Words from long ago reached her. _Silence is a source of great strength_.  
But then, one of the blasted handmaidens walked in. Interrupting her solace. _So much for having a little peace._  
“It’s time to get up now, My Lady.”  
“I’m not a Lady. Yang or Gondul is fine.”  
“Very well, Gondul. I have your breakfast ready. Rota is already up.”  
Jai threw back the covers and threw her legs over the side of the bed. Standing, she stretched her arms over her head, feeling the satisfying pop of her joints.  
“My Lady! How can you be so indecent?”  
Jai turned to stare at the woman from over her shoulder.  
“I still have clothes on, don’t I?”  
“Yes, but you barely have anything on!”  
All Jai had on was a long-sleeved button-down shirt.  
Jai rolled her eyes and ignored the old woman, leaving the room, much to the woman’s protests.  
“Hey, Jai. How’d you sleep?” greeted Rota, a cup of caf in her hands.  
“Like a rock. There better be more of that,” she said pointing to the cup.  
Rota smirked.  
“Nope, I drank it all.”  
If looks could kill, Rota would be nothing but ashes. Which made her throw her head back laughing.  
“Of course, there is. Who do you think I am? Olrun? Please. Don’t offend me. There’s some on the counter.”  
“I think I gave What’s-her-face a heart attack,” Jai said while pouring herself a cup of caf.  
“Who? Mara? Girl, you really need to work on remembering names. How is it that you made it to the rank of Gondul and are this bad at names?”  
“Hell, if I know.”  
Rota chuckled.  
“I guess that’s why your Gondul and not Rota.”  
“I take offense to that,” Jai said as she sat down across from her friend.  
“Oh please,” Rota said, rolling her eyes. “What are your plans for today?”  
Gondul shrugged.  
“I guess go to the Senate Building and get settled in. I’m not supposed to go to any meeting today.”  
Rota then reached across the table and squeezed her hand.  
“I know you’ll do us proud. You need to have more faith in yourself.”  
“But what if I can’t keep us out of the war?”  
“Look at Mandalore. It was once the most volatile planet in the galaxy, and now thanks to the Duchess it’s one of the most peaceful.”  
“I guess you’re right.”  
Rota smirked.  
“Of course, I’m right.”  
Jai finished her caf, stood, and starting walking back to her room. “Don’t make me regret inviting you.”  
“Never! And you should eat something!”  
“Bite me!”  
Jai could hear Rota’s laugh from the other room.

Jai arrived at the Senate Building later that day, her silver hair tied up in an intricate bun, another crimson dress on. It had a slit running up her left thigh, with the back cut out.  
“Remind me why I have to wear this ridiculous outfit?”  
“Because Her Excellency had it made special for you,” said Rota doing a good impression of Mara the annoying handmaiden.  
Jai couldn’t help but start laughing. Rota grinned.  
“At least this gave me an excuse to be rid of those pesky handmaidens.”  
“Don’t worry, I spoke to Sigrun, and they will be coming back to Norma with me.”  
“And how was Sigrun able to change the Empress’s mind?”  
Rota shrugged.  
“Beats me.”  
Suddenly, Gondul stopped in her tracks, that feeling from the day before was back. Her head whipped around, trying to find the source.  
“What is it?”  
“I-I don’t know. Let’s get inside.”  
The two women rushed inside the building, where they nearly ran into Senator Amidala.  
“Oh, Hello Senator Yang. I was just looking for you.”  
Jai schooled her face, morphing it into a look of a pleasant surprise. The uneasy feeling had not gone away.  
“Me, whatever for?”  
“I was wanting to show you to your new office. The Senate Building can be a bit confusing to someone who doesn’t know their way around.”  
Jai’s mask fell, as a look of horror crossed her face, and Rota busted out laughing, drawing the attention of several people.  
“Oh man, you are screwed Gondul,” Rota laughed, throwing her arm around Jai’s shoulders.  
“Gondul?”  
Jai elbowed Rota in the side.  
“Gondul is a nickname.”  
“Oh, I see. Why are you going to be screwed?”  
“Jai here has a horrible sense of direction. You give her a map and a destination, and she’ll take you in the opposite direction.”  
Jai felt herself flush. “I’m not that bad!”  
“You’re right. You’re right.” She turned to Senator Amidala and whispered theatrically, “She’s worse.”  
This time when Jai went to elbow Rota, she dodged out of the way.  
Senator Amidala smiled at the two women.  
“Come on, It’s not far.”  
Amidala showed them past several other senators and clones. Jai hadn’t seen this many different species or clones in her life. She had spent most of her life in the Yggdrasil System. Never had a reason to leave until now.  
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ve met you,” Amidala said to Rota.  
“Hi, I’m Rota.”  
The two women shook hands.  
They passed by a wall of windows, and the uneasy feeling came back with a vengeance. Making her stop in her tracks. Jai stared intently out the windows, trying to find the source. There was something familiar about the feeling.  
Rota and Amidala both stopped and looked at her.  
Rota gave her a look, and Jai only gave her a small shake of the head.  
“Is everything alright?”  
Jai smiled at Amidala.  
“Just admiring the view.”  
“It’s not much farther. And you’ll have a view all your own.”  
Jai felt a sense of dread settle over her at the thought of a window. But she made sure she didn’t let it show. The three women continued down the hallway, Jai’s eyes constantly darting to look out the windows.  
Amidala stopped in front of the door at the end of the long hallway. She punched in a code and the door slide open.  
It was a nice office. Bookshelves lined the two side walls, a desk sat at the back of the room, and a glass coffee table sat in the center with two stuffed chairs on one side and a loveseat on the other. Behind the desk was another wall of glass.  
What is with these people and windows?  
“It’s lovely,” Jai said turning to Amidala, who smiled.  
“I’m glad you like it. We wanted to decorate it like Norma, but no one’s ever set foot on the planet.”  
Jai smiled at the other Senator, appreciating the gesture.  
“Thank you. For future reference, Norma is a very green planet.”  
Amidala said something else, but Jai didn’t hear as the unsettling feeling returned, and this time it assaulted every one of her senses.  
“ _Everyone down!_ ” she screamed, grabbing both Padmé and Rota and pulling them down behind the desk, just as shots whizzed through the windows, shattering them.  
Gondul pulled both women into her as more shots hit the back of the desk.  
“I think they’re trying to empty the clip,” shouted Rota.  
“Yeah, no shit!”  
After what felt like hours, but was only a few minutes, the shots finally stopped.  
The three women looked at each other, hearts pounding.  
“Stay here,” Jai said quietly.  
Hesitantly, Jai poked her head over the side of the desk. She quickly pulled her head back as another shot whizzed past where her head had been.  
“We have to get out of here,” whispered Amidala.  
“I have an idea,” whispered Jai.  
Quickly looking around the room, she spotted the loveseat. Holding out her hand, the loveseat lifted into the air and floated towards them.  
“Everyone behind the couch,” said Jai.  
They quickly got behind the floating furniture and scrambled to the room. More shots firing as they ran.  
When they finally made it out of the room, breathing heavily, Amidala turned on Jai.  
“How did you do that?”


	3. Meeting the Commanders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you haven't figured it out yet, Jai is a Force user. And Jai and Fox finally meet. (For reals this time.)

“This is ridiculous! I don’t need a babysitter!”  
“My dear, I know it might not seem like it, but this is for your own protection.”  
“I don’t need someone to protect me, I can protect myself just fine.”  
Jai started pacing around the Chancellor’s office, as he tried to placate her. Night had fallen, with the Senate Building having been shut down after the attack.  
“I assure you that Commander Fox and his team are some of the best there is. I do believe you’ve already met the Commander.”  
“No, I haven’t.”  
“Yes, you have, G. Remember yesterday?” said Rota calmly.  
‘Whatever,” Jai mumbled under her breath, continuing her pacing.  
“I have been in contact with your Empress and she agrees that you should have protection.”  
Jai stopped her pacing and let her head fall.  
“Dammit.”  
The Chancellor had just invalidated all her future arguing, by going over her head and speaking to her Empress.  
Jai glared at the old man. She held her hands up in surrender.  
“Very well. If it is the wish of Her Excellency, then I except.”  
The old man, whose name she had already forgotten, smiled at her. The smile seemed sincere, but there was something about the unnerving about the feel of him. Something she couldn’t quite place.  
“Thank you, my dear. Please, Commander Fox and his team are waiting,” he said holding out his hand for her to follow.  
“Come on,” said Rota, throwing her arm around her shoulder.  
“Even though Her Excellency agreed to the protection detail,” said Jai quietly enough for only Rota to hear, “I still don’t like it.”  
“I know you don’t. But this is going to keep you safe.”  
Jai just looked at her friend.  
“Well, here’s some good news… all those servants are gone now.”  
Despite her disappointment at her first day as a senator, she couldn’t help but smile.  
“I thought you were leaving with them.”  
Rota shrugged.  
“I decided to stay a little longer. I think Sigrun would understand.”  
Jai smiled at her sister. Jai wished that Ro were her actual sister, and threw her own arm over her shoulder, and pressing a kiss to her cheek. Rota smiled.  
When they rounded a corner, they saw three clones standing together talking. When the clones saw the two women, they stopped talking and stood at attention. Jai let a small smile grace her face. This was more familiar to her than politics.  
Jai and Rota let go of each other as they approached the clones. Rota smiled at the man.  
“Hello, boys!”  
Jai rolled her eyes at Rota’s antics.  
“Hello, ma’am. Senator,” said the one with the completely red armor, with an incline of the head to each of them… Fex, that was his name, right? Jai couldn’t remember for the life of her. She knew she had met him, but the armor was familiar.  
“Hello Commander,” said Jai holding out her hand.  
The Commander shook her hand, with a very firm grip.  
“This is Commander Thorn and Commander Thire,” he said gesturing to the two men behind him.  
She and Rota inclined their heads to the two other Commanders.  
“It’s nice to meet you, Commanders.”  
“You as well, Senators,” said one of the clones.  
“Oh, no,” said Rota. “I’m not a Senator. Just the Senator’s best friend.”  
“I see,” said Commander… Thire?  
“We should get you back home, Senator,” said Commander Fox, the red one, she could remember that.  
“Of course, Commander.”  
As they began to walk to the transport to take them to Jai’s apartment, the clones circled around the two women, with Jai’s thoughts being drawn back to earlier that day.

Senator Amidala stared at her, waiting for an answer.  
Jai Yang didn’t know what to say. She knew that showing someone here in the Republic that she was a Force user there would be problems.  
Jai opened and closed her mouth several times, not knowing what to say. What could she say? On Norma, being a Force user wasn’t uncommon. Many of the people could use it but have never been in the Galactic Republic the Jedi had never come to their planet.  
“Umm…” was all she could come up with.  
“You’re a Force user?”  
All she could do was nod.  
“But you’re not a Jedi?”  
Again, she nodded.  
“I’ve… never met a Force user who’s not a Jedi. How are you not?”  
Jai shrugged.  
“On Norma, it’s not uncommon to be born Force-sensitive. Please, don’t tell anyone. My Empress told me not to tell anyone. She doesn’t want the Republic to interfere with Norman affairs. If the Jedi found out…” she didn’t even want to think about what would happen if the Jedi found out.  
“Why? Do you hate the Jedi?” Amidala sounded defensive.  
“No. I don’t. This is just the wish of our Empress. We must follow it. But I do agree with her. I don’t want the Jedi interference. I mean, I never would have met my friends if I had been a Jedi.”  
Amidala’s shoulders relaxed at that.  
“I see your point. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. And don’t worry, I can keep a secret.”  
Jai smiled, relieved, at her. Feeling that she could trust her.  
“I have to ask,” said Commander Fox, pulling Jai from her thoughts. “Do you have any enemies that would want you dead?”  
Jai gave a dry humorless laugh.  
“I think an easier question would be: who wouldn’t?”  
Though she couldn’t see his face, she felt that the Commander was giving her a confused look.  
“I have many enemies on Norma, Commander. There were many people who didn’t want me to come to your Republic. Before I left, I received many, many death threats.”  
The Commander nodded.  
They had now reached the landing platform of Jai’s apartment building when Jai got an uneasy feeling.  
“Wait,” she said holding out her hand, stopping the red commander.  
“Is everything alright?” he asked.  
“No…” she said slowly, looking around. “Someone’s watching us. I can’t tell where though.”  
“I think it would be best to get inside, ma’am,” said Fox, placing a hand on her back, and giving her a small push to the door.  
“Right,” she said distractedly.  
When they made it to her apartment, Fox and his men immediately started covering all the windows and sweeping across the apartment looking for anything that was out of place.  
“The apartment seems clear, sir,” said the red and white clone.  
Jai started tugging on her hair, feeling several strands of hair being pulled out of her head.  
“Well this day just keeps getting better and better,” Jai said wrapping her arms around herself. But her master’s words came to her at that moment: _The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed._  
 _Breathe, Jai. Just breathe. You’ve faced a lot worse._  
“Miss,” said Fox, finally taking off his helmet. He was a handsome man, with black crewcut hair, and amber eyes, and he had a very calming aura around him. It made Jai feel safe, less jittery.  
The other two followed Fox’s lead, taking off their own helmets. It was then that Jai realized that the clones really were identical. Thire had a similar hair cut to Fox, but Thorn didn’t have any hair. But it was easy to distinguish the three of them by their auras. Thire had an aura of patience about him, and Thorn had an aura of fierce determination.  
“Miss, you said you had a lot of enemies. Any that you can think of that would follow you to Coruscant?”  
Jai couldn’t really think straight, her hands shaking violently. _Come on, think! You’ve been shot at before! Now’s not any different!_  
“Umm… I uhh… I don’t think so… Not that I can think of,” she said, voice shaking, and squeezing her hands together.  
Fox approached her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, his calming aura washing over her, making her feel more at peace. Up until that point, she hadn’t realized how much bigger he was than her. It made her feel small.  
“Don’t worry Senator. Nothing is going to happen to you. Not while we’re here.”  
She wanted to believe him. She really did. But there was something unsettling familiar about the presence she felt whenever she stepped outside. But she couldn’t tell the Commanders about that, how could she explain without letting slip that she was a Force user. These clones worked closely with the Jedi. She couldn’t tell them the truth.  
Jai tried and failed, to give the clone a confident smile.  
“Thank you, Commander.”


	4. Commander Fox (Fox's POV)

Commander Fox watched as Senator Yang slept peacefully in her bed. The night before had been stressful for the young woman. She hadn’t sat down until her friend had press a cup of tea into her hands and forced her to sit.   
Fox watched as the young woman’s chest rise and fall. She was so young and small. Her silver hair fanned out across her face. Fox moved to push her hair out of her face. He was suddenly struck by how beautiful she was. He really liked her silver hair.   
Yang mumbled something in her sleep before turning over.   
There was a small knock at the door, turning Fox saw Thorn entire.  
“Have you found out where the shots came from?” Fox asked.   
“It came from an upper floor from the building across the highway, sir,” said Thorn.  
“Any sign of the assailant?”  
Thorn shook his head.  
“No, sir.”  
Fox sighed, looking back at the Senator sleeping peacefully.  
“That’s not good. Did you get the list of suspects from her Empress?”  
“We did the list, but not from the Empress. From someone named: Sigrun.”   
Thorn handed Fox a datapad. Looking at the list, there was name after name. The Senator wasn’t kidding when she said it would be easier to find people who didn’t have it out for her. When Fox looked at her actual file, nearly all of it had been redacted. Who exactly was she? How could someone so tiny have so many enemies? But Fox had to remember that he had just met her and didn’t know what she did on Norma.   
Fox handed the datapad back to Thorn, before turning back to the Senator.  
“Have you checked the security cameras in the area?”  
“Thire is doing it right now.”  
Fox nodded.   
Glancing at the clock he noticed that the sun should be coming up around now, and the Senator was still sleeping, and he didn’t want to wake her. But it seemed that her friend had other plans. As in just that moment, Rota burst into the room, loudly proclaiming that breakfast was ready. Causing the Senator to bolt up in bed.   
“Rota!” she exclaimed, grabbing a pillow, and throwing it at her friend.  
Her friend squealed and dodged out of the way.   
Fox turned back to the Senator, eyebrow raised.  
“Is she always like that?”  
The Senator made a noise in the back of her throat. “More or less. Suppose I’m not getting any more sleep,” she said as she threw back the covers. “Commander, did you sleep at all?”  
“Some.”  
As she stood, she stretched her arms over her head, making a satisfying noise.   
“I have a meeting with Duchess Satine today, Commander. Then I have a meeting with some other representatives whose name I can’t remember. I hope that’s fine.”  
Fox nodded. Remembering that Yang wasn’t like most senators, whereas most where elected, she was assigned to the position. It made him curious about what Norma was like.   
The Senator yawned as she walked to the kitchen, rubbing her eyes, with Fox and Thorn following behind her.   
“Ta-da!” exclaimed Rota, showing off the table that was full of food.   
“Did you do this yourself?”  
Rota rolled her eyes.  
“No, it was a Dullahan.”  
This time it was the Senator’s turn to roll her eyes.  
“What’s a Dullahan?” asked Thorn.  
“It’s a fairy of death. It’s typically seen carrying its head under its arm,” explained Yang. “It’s a creature only found in the Yggdrasil System.”  
“Please, Commanders won’t you join us?” asked Rota, gesturing to the extra chairs.   
“We really shouldn’t, ma’am,” said Fox.   
He could see the two women’s disappointment, but they didn’t say anything.  
“At least eat something, please?” asked Yang. “You can take anything.” She looked around the room. “Where did…”  
“Thire,” Rota whispered.  
“… Thire go?”  
“He went to check on something, ma’am.”  
Yang nodded.   
“Will you take something?” she asked again.  
“Of course,” said Fox, as Thorn grabbed a plate and started piling food on it.   
As Fox started putting food on his plate the girls turned to each other and started speaking to each other in a different language. A language he had never heard before. 

Fox followed behind the Senator as she walked to her meeting with Duchess Satine. Fox constantly had his head moving around the room looking for anyone paying too much attention to the young Senator. Unfortunately, her being a new face drew many eyes.   
“Tell me, Commander,” said Senator Yang. “How long have you been Commander of the Coruscant Guard?”   
This threw him for a loop. Most of the time when he was assigned to protect a senator, they never tried to feed him or speak to him.   
“Since the first Battle of Geonosis.”  
“I see, so for quite some time then.”  
“Yes ma’am.”  
“So, you have a lot of experience fighting?”  
“Yes ma’am.”  
“My old Master used to say that the only source of knowledge is experience.”  
“Your Master?”  
“Different than a Jedi. In Norma, a master is like a teacher.”  
“That sounds like the Jedi and Padawan relationship to me.”  
The Senator frowned, and Fox got the feeling he had just offended her, but she said nothing.  
They arrived at the room of the meeting with the Duchess, with the Senator pulling out a small note with the code for the room on it and inputting said code into the lock. And Fox wondering how she had gotten so far if she was so forgetful.   
When the door opened Fox saw the Duchess speaking to General Kenobi, but when the Senator saw the General, she seemed to freeze. The General and Duchess looked almost equally surprised to see the Senator and Commander.   
The Duchess turned back to the General and said, “We will continue this conversation later.”  
General Kenobi nodded and started walking towards them. Out of habit, Fox stood at attention and saluted. The Senator eyed him uneasily out of the corner of her eye. When the General was within a few feet of them, he inclined his head, letting Fox know he could be at ease.   
“Hello, Commander. Hello, Senator Yang,” the General said extending his hand to her.  
The Senator stared at his hand for a moment before hesitantly taking it, her movements seeming almost mechanical. Senator then watched as the General left, before turning back to the Duchess, a smile on her face.  
“Greetings, Duchess Satine,” she said walking up to the taller woman, with an extended hand.  
“Hello, my dear,” smiled the Duchess. “How was your trip?”  
“Oh, it was fine,” she said airily.   
“I heard about the spot of trouble you're in,” said Duchess Satine, eyeing the clone behind Yang. “Are you alright?”  
“I’ve been in worse situations. Don’t worry.”


	5. Saying Goodbye to Rota

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it's taken so long to update. School and work have been crazy recently. I'm only halfway through writing my big paper for school, so updates might be sparse. That's also the reason why it's so short. I hope ya'll enjoy the new chapter.  
> -M

In the days since the initial attack, Jai’s life had felt like it had been turned upside down. The Commanders were nearly always with her, Fox most of all. She and Rota had tried to get the three of them to open up, but they would give only short answers leaving the two women feeling like they were speaking to brick walls. So much so that Jai and Rota had started speaking to each other in Moorish, their native tongue.  
Unfortunately, for today Rota was going back to Norma. Leaving Jai by herself. Jai wasn’t happy, she loved Rota and didn’t want her to leave. She had tried to beg Sigrún not to have Rota come back, but she had been adamant about Rota returning. In the days leading up to Rota’s departure, Jai had become sullen, so much so that even the clones had started trying to cheer her up.  
“Good morning, Senator,” greeted Fox as Jai walked out of her room. He had his helmet on. She had noticed that when they nearly always wore their helmets. Sometimes it unnerved her, but then she thought of her own time in the Norman military and she wondered if that’s what people thought of her.   
“You look tired, Senator,” commented Thorn.  
“I am, Commander,” she grumbled, tugging on her hair.   
“Is everything alright, G?” asked Rota from the table, looking at her with concern.   
“Her Excellency wishes to speak to me today.”  
“Oh,” she frowned. “You sure you just want caf and not something stronger?”  
Jai grinned.  
“I’d love to say yes.”  
Ro threw her head back and laughed.   
“What are you going to do without me?”  
“Spirits knows,” said Jai, wrapping her arms around her best friend.   
“Oh, don’t look so down,” Ro said wrapping a hand around Jai’s arms.   
“How can I when you're leaving me?”  
“Don’t lose hope. It’s not hopeless yet. Besides, even the word ‘hopeless’ has the word ‘hope’ in it! And if you rearrange the letters it spells ‘peeslosh!’”   
Jai doubled over laughing. She could also hear the clones chuckling.  
“How… long have you been sitting on that one?”   
“A while. I felt like this was my last chance to tell it.”  
Then Rota handed Jai a cup of caf, which she took gratefully.   
“Commanders,” Rota said turning to the clones, “will you please come and join us. In the spirit of my leaving today?”  
Fox didn’t move, but Thorn and Thire made a b-line for the table, both grabbing plates and pilling food onto it, and removing their helmets. But Commander Fox didn’t move.  
“Please, Commander,” asked Jai gesturing to the seat next to her. “Join us just this once?”  
Fox stayed where he was.   
“Please, Commander?” Jai asked again, pulling her silver hair over one shoulder, and batting her violet eyes at the man.  
Still, he didn’t move.  
“Please, Fox?”  
That seemed to stir him alive, as he sighed, unfolded his arms, and approached the table. Jai beamed at the clone commander. Pulling off his helmet and placing it on the table next to him, he sat down next to his charge.   
“Thank you for joining us, Commander,” smiled Rota, holding up her mug in a toast.   
Fox just nodded, not speaking as he started filling his plate.  
“He’s quite stubborn,” said Rota, speaking in Moorish.  
“Some would call it professionalism,” stated Jai.  
Rota laughed. All three of the clones gazed at them but tried to seem like they weren’t interested in the conversation. But Jai could feel their curiosity. It radiated off of them. It always did when they spoke in their native tongue.  
“I think he’s handsome,” said Rota, glaring playfully at Jai.  
Jai rolled her eyes.  
“You don’t even like men.”  
Rota shrugged.  
“Doesn’t mean I can’t see them for what they are. I like the aesthetics. I’m not blind.”  
Jai felt herself flush, and averted her eyes, and took a big gulp of her caf. Rota grinned at her friend in triumph. 

Hours later, the clones, Jai and Rota stood on the landing platform. With Rota’s transport waiting for her behind her. The two women held each other tightly, neither wanting to let the other go. But knowing that they would have to eventually.  
“Madam,” came Commander Fox’s voice behind her.  
Jai looked at the man behind her, tear stains on her cheeks.  
“Madam, I know you want to stay, but we must go.”  
She hesitated, for a moment, causing Fox to think she would argue with him before she sighed and nodded.  
“Yes, Commander. I know.”  
Turning back to Rota, she gave her one last hug before stepping back to watch her go.   
“I hate seeing her go.”  
“I know, Senator.”  
“Have you, found out anything about the person who attacked me?”  
“No, not yet.”  
“I see.”  
“We should go back indoors, Senator.”  
“Of course.”


	6. Remembering Master Gondul

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, for it taking me so long to update. School and work are driving me into the ground.

_“Remember, child, you could be destined for great things,” Master Gondul said, smiling down at the young Jai._

_“But Master. I don’t feel like I’m gonna do great things.”_

_Her Master grinned and mussed her black hair._

_“People rarely do. But remember to never let someone hold you back. Especially men,” her Master looked down at her with an expression that said they were sharing an inside joke, one that Jai didn’t understand._

“You seem distracted today, Senator.”

Jai turned to gaze at Commander Fox and smiled.

“A little, yes.”

“May I ask what is on your mind?”

Jai strolled over to the bookshelves and ran her hand over the spines.

“I’m thinking about my Master. I guess I miss home.”

“What is Norma like?”

“Very different from here. So full of color. And life. About this time, the trees would be changing colors.”

“It must have been a big change, coming here,” Fox said.

She smiled at him. Though she couldn’t see his face.

“It was. Rota helped. When Her Excellency asked me to take on this assignment, I was initially worried. I wondered why she didn’t choose Sigrún, but Her Excellency has her reasons, and Sigrún agreed with the Empress. So who am I to question.”

“Who’s Sigrún?”

“She is the leader of the Nine. You could say she is our general. Sigrún is a very wise leader.”

“You mentioned a Master.”

Jai smiled at the memory of her Master.

“Master Gondul. She taught me everything I know. She was like a mother to me.”

“Gondul? I thought that was your name.”

Jai grinned at the Commander.

“Gondul isn’t a name, it’s a title. Like Lord or Lady. It’s one that is passed down from Master to student.”

“That sounds an awful lot like the Jedi.”

Jai frowned slightly.

“I suppose.”

“Have I offended you?”

“No. You haven’t, Fox.”

“You remembered my name.” She could hear the smile in his voice.

“I’m not completely hopeless with names. It’s been three weeks of you always being around me. I might be a slow learner, but I learn.”

“I wasn’t saying that. I’m just impressed.”

“Fox, could you please take your helmet off? It still feels strange to be talking to what is essentially a bucket.”

Fox chuckled and took it off and set it on the table next to him.

“Tell me,” he said, “you don’t think much of the Jedi, do you?”

“I don’t hate them. If that’s what you’re asking.”

“But you don’t like them.”

“I don’t want them in the Yggdrasil System.”

“You’re avoiding my question.”

Jai rolled her eyes, as Fox grinned.

“I don’t care for them. There? Happy?”

Fox shrugged.

“Do you like them, Commander?”

“They fight for the Republic, ma’am. They fight for freedom.”

“That sounds straight out of a propaganda book. What’s _your_ opinion, Fox.”

Fox looked confused.

“Never mind.”

“What about your Master? How did you two meet?”

“We met when my village was attacked by raiders. Both my parents and older sister were killed. She rescued me and brought me back to her fortress.”

“I’m so sorry.”

Jai shrugged.

“It was a long time ago.”

Jai turned back to her small desk and picked up a trinket and turned it in her hands.

“My Master used to say, ‘fall seven times, stand up eight.’”

“She sounds like a wonderful woman.”

“She was,” Jai said distractedly.

“How long has she been dead?”

“In a few months, it will have been nine years.”

Just then, Jai’s computer started beeping. Walking around her desk, her heels clicking against the floor, she bent over the desk to see what it was. It was an email from Duchess Satine.

_Jai need you in the atrium urgently._

_Come alone._

_Satine_

Jai reread the message several times with mounting confusion. This made no sense. The Duchess would never refer to her as Jai, it was always Senator Yang or Gondul, and she would never tell her to come alone.

“Fox, something seems wrong. Come and look at this.” Fox came around to stand beside her and read the email as well.

“I don’t like this. Something’s not right. The Duchess wouldn’t refer to me by my first name, it’s usually Gondul. And she knows about the attempts on my life. She wouldn’t ask me to come alone.”

“You’re right,” he said straightening up, “Give me time to get Thorn and Thire, then we can figure something out.”

Turned to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and squeezed, and it struck her that that was the first time he had touched her. It felt strange but in a good way.

She nodded, and watched as he put his helmet back on, went to the door, spoke a few words to the Senate Guard, who came in as the Commander left. They stood silently by the door, watching her. The second Fox left, a feeling of dread settled over her.

 _Master,_ she prayed, _I wish you were here to guide me. I feel so lost right now. What should I do?_

But there was no answer. At least, not at first. Jai remembered her Master’s words, _“Remember Jai, to follow your instincts, they are rarely wrong.”_

_Right. Follow my instincts. But, I don’t know what they’re telling me. Maybe, I could ask Sigrún for advice._

She turned to her terminal and began punching in Sigrun’s call code.

Nothing happened.

Finding this strange, she tried again.

Again, nothing happened.

So focused on the terminal, she didn’t notice the presence of someone new. Until they spoke.

“Hello, Sister.”


	7. Chidori and Jai

Jai whirled around, wide-eyed, clutching at the terminal. The two Senate Guards lay on the ground, whether they were unconscious or dead, she didn’t know. Her eyes glued on the grinning woman in front of her.

“Ch-Chidori… what are you doing here?”

Chidori just continued to grin. Jai felt her heartrate skyrocket.

“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” Chidori asked. “Look at you, all grown up, and a Senator.”

Jai said nothing. Desperately trying to contact Fox, trying to type out his contact code behind her, keeping her eyes trained on her sister.

“What?” Chidori’s grin broadened, “Not trying to contact that clone, are you? I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“What do you want?”

Chidori shrugged.

“What? I can’t want to catch up with my little sister?”

“Not after what you did!”

Chidori rolled her eyes.

“Are you still on about that? It was a long time ago. Let it go.”

Jai frowned.

Chidori took a few steps forward, and Jai tensed.

But before Chidori could get much farther, the door burst open with Fox, Thire, and Thorn running in, blasters are drawn. Chidori rolled her eyes, almost like this was a minor inconvenience.

“Put your hands up!” Fox demanded.

Chidori glared at him, before reaching into her pocket, pulling out a small bead.

“Freeze!”

Chidori turned to Jai and smiled.

“Until we meet again, Sister.”

Then she threw down the bead, which exploded into a cloud of smoke. The smoke burned Jai’s eyes and lungs. She squeezed her eyes shut and began coughing furiously. She could hear Chidori laughing.

“Senator… Senator… Can you hear me?” came the Commander’s voice from somewhere to her left.

She nodded, still coughing.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and it started guiding her from the room. Once they were out of the room, Jai filled her lungs with fresh air. It felt good. But when she tried opening her eyes, the sting, which was simmering under the surface, came in full force, making her snap her eyes closed once again.

“Senator Yang are you alright?” the Commander asked gently.

“Yes,” she said hoarsely.

“Who was that?” asked Thorn.

“I believe… that is the woman who is trying to kill me.”

There was a stunned silence from the three clones around her.

“What? Are you sure?” it sounded like Thire.

“Almost completely.”

“Who… who is she?”

“Her name is Chidori. She’s my sister.”

More stunned silence.

“I thought you said your sister was dead?” questioned Fox.

“She might as well be.”

Jai tried prying her eyes open again and managed to squint.

The sound of running footsteps caught the clones attention, turning to the sound, blasters were drawn. Jai couldn’t make out who it was. And she really didn’t care, all she wanted was to go back to her flat, and cry. Chidori being here complicated so many things. She needed to let Her Excellency and Sigrún. Maybe she could go home. She would be safer on Norma than she would be here. How was Chidori even alive? Didn’t Sigrún take care of her? After what she did… how was she alive? She had so many questions that needed to be answered.

“Easy boys,” said Fox, pulling Jai from her ruminating, “it’s just the General.”

Jai looked up from her spot on the floor, how she got there, she wasn’t sure, to find General Kenobi and the Duchess coming towards them.

“Commander, what’s happened?” asked General Kenobi.

“The Senator was attacked again,” stated Fox.

“What? How?” asked a surprised Duchess.

“She got an email from you, Your Grace,” said Thire.

“Me? But I didn’t send any email. I haven’t even been in my office today.”

“I went to go find out who sent the message, and…”

“You left her alone?” the Duchess asked outraged.

“I wasn’t alone. The Senate Guards were with me.”

The general and the Duchess turned their gazes to her. Fox turned to her and afforded her his hand. She took it, and he pulled her up. Jai hadn’t realized how bad she had been affected, when she nearly fell back to the floor, with how badly she was shaking.

Fox wrapped an arm around her waist as she clung to him.

“Take me home,” she whispered to him.

“Yes, Senator.”

“We’ll talk later,” she said to the Duchess.

She nodded and stepped aside for the Senator and the clones to pass.

“Are you alright?” he whispered in her ear once they no were out of earshot.

“No. But I will be, once I get out of here.”

Once they arrived back at her flat, Jai immediately went to her room, and stripped out of her clothes, and put on a simple button-down shirt. She curled up on her bed and buried her head in her hands. Curling some hair around her fingers, giving it a hard tug, and repeating the process. After some time passed, there was a knock on the door.

“Senator?” came Fox’s voice. “Can I come in?”

Jai didn’t reply, but the door opened slightly.

Fox came in and silently closed the door. He didn’t have his helmet on.

“Are you okay?” he asked sitting down on the bed.

“No.”

“Who is Chidori?”

“My sister.”

“You said she was dead.”

“To me she is.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“It might help us stop her,” Fox pressed.

Jai tugged harder on her hair, feeling several hairs disconnect from her skull. Fox noticed the tugging and tried to stop her hand. Jai gazed at his hand, feeling numb as she thought back to what Chidori did.

“Remember how I told you how my Master died almost nine years ago?”

Fox nodded.

“Chidori was the one who killed her.”

Fox stared at her.

“We were out hunting. It was a normal day, my Master had heard that some creatures were menacing a local town. So we went out looking. But what we found wasn’t any creature… it was Chidori, but she had changed. She wasn’t the sister I had grown up with.”

“I’m so sorry.”

Jai shrugged.

“I think I want to be alone now. If you don’t mind.”

Fox nodded and left.


	8. Many Meetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You finally get to meet Sigrun!!!

“You know, My Lady, I think this is the first time I’ve seen you without your Jedi,” Jai said as she and the Duchess walked to her first Senate Meeting. The Commanders trailing behind them.

“Kenobi and I are old friends, that is all.” The Duchess glanced at Jai, and she could sense the older woman’s nervousness. “I heard about what happened in your office. Are you alright, my dear?”

“Yes, I am. Thanks to the Commanders, here.” She could sense their grins.

The Duchess nodded.

“While I don’t agree with the war, I am glad that they were there to protect you.”

“As am I,” Jai said, clutching at the three-inch scar that rested above her navel. A gift from Chidori.

Thire had asked about the scar that morning, but Fox had told him that it wasn’t any of his business. For which Jai was grateful.

“Well,” the Duchess said, stopping by a door, “this is where I leave you. Good luck, my darling. You’ll do wonderful.”

With that, the Duchess left, leaving Jai alone with her clones, while silently panicking because she couldn’t remember the way to her station. She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, whipping her head around to find her staring at her own reflection on Fox’s helmet.

“This way, Senator.”

Jai gave him a relieved smile and gratefully followed him.

Fox lead the Senator to her area, trying to keep himself from looking back. When she had stepped out of her room that morning, he was glad he had his helmet on. She looked beautiful. Her silver hair was pulled back in a tight bun, with a single lock of hair falling down the left side of her face. Her black lace two-piece dress complimented her so well. The top was a long sleeve, crop top. The bottom was a long skirt that pooled around her feet, with a slit that ran from her thigh to the floor. That was when he noticed the jagged scar running above her navel. It made him wonder where it had come from.

“Here you are, Senator.”

“Thank you, Commander.”

Fox couldn’t help but think she had a beautiful smile.

The three Commanders followed in after the Senator.

Jai instantly felt very small, stepping into the Senate room. There were so many people. She looked both up and down, not seeing an end to the pods, she suddenly felt very ill.

“Senator, I wouldn’t do that,” Fox said gently, pulling her back from the edge.

“I think I agree with you on that.”

She looked on either side of her and did not recognize either of the Senators. One was a young Pantoran woman, and the other was a species she did not recognize. She wiped her hands off on the sides of her dress. She had never seen so many different species in the same place. She felt so nervous. _A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion._ Her Master’s words came to her, which helped to calm her raging mind, but did nothing for her heart.

Jai stayed silent for most of the proceedings, as most of the topics revolved around the war. It wasn’t until the Trade Federation began making allegations against the Empire that she finally spoke up.

“The allegations that you made against my people are false!” Jai said, pressing the button to make her pod move towards the center of the room. “The people of the Empire are peaceful! We’ve nothing to warrant this bill! We don’t even trade with the Federation. So why would there be a need to tax my people?”

“Because you have people in the Separatists!”

Jai rolled her eyes.

“That is no secret! Her Excellency sent a representative to the Republic and the Separatists to ensure that we stay out of this war.”

There was an uproar from the Senators around her, and Jai felt like she shouldn’t have said that, secret or no.

“Senators,” came a voice from behind her, “The people of the Val’in Empire have not been apart of the Republic, they have every right to send representatives to ensure that they stay out of this war.” It was the Senator from Naboo… Amanda? No that didn’t sound right. Whatever her name was, Jai gave her a grateful smile.

“They are a bunch of hypocrites! This woman who claims to oppose the war is surrounded by clones!”

“Because there is a threat to her life! I think we can all agree that she needs protection.”

“My people are peaceful, we want no part in this war. We only wish to strengthen our bonds with both the Republic and the Separatists. We do not wish to bring death to our System…”

“There are five planets in the Yggdrasil System! Why are you the only one here?”

“Serafeem and Almer have yet to decide on a representative, and as such, the other two leaders have elected to have me represent their interests until such time as they elect a senator.”

“And the other two planets?”

“Are uninhabited.”

The Trade Federation ass did not respond.

“As I was saying… The people of Yggdrasil do not wish for death to come to their homes. In the past, there has been too much infighting. We only want to strengthen our bonds and trade… without the Federation… with the other systems.”

_I hope Geirdiful is having a better time than I am._

The rest of the meeting went off without much fanfare, with Jai refraining from even more votes. Her hair was starting to pull at her scalp and she desperately wanted to take her hair down. Once the meeting ended she and her clones left, not speaking until they had gotten to her speeder.

“You did great!” Thire cheered once they were alone.

“You think?” she asked, giving them a tired grin.

Thorn nodded.

“I can’t stand the Trade Federation. I always love seeing someone owning them.”

“What about the part with Geirdiful being in the Separatists?” she asked shyly.

Thire and Thorn shrugged.

“I mean, I’m not happy about it. But like you said, your Empress sent one to the Republic and the other to the Sepies.”

“Also like you said, it’s to ensure the Empire is protected.”

She smiled, rubbing her scalp, but hadn’t taken her hair down. Her feet were killing her. Why did she choose to wear heels today?

“Why don’t you take your hair down?” asked Thire.

“I still have one more meeting before I can.”

“Really? With who?” asked Thire.

“I think you mean with whom.”

“Shuddup Thorn.”

Jai giggled.

“With Her Excellency and Sigrún.”

She took one of her feet out of her heels and rolled her ankle a few times, groaning at the slight relief, before putting her foot back in her shoe.

“Why do you wear those if they hurt so much?” asked Thire.

“Because beauty is painful.”

“Is that one of your Master’s old sayings?”

“Nope.”

When they finally made it back to her flat, Jai instantly kicked off her heels, groaning and rubbing her tired feet.

Once she had grabbed a bottle of water, Thire and Thorn having gotten themselves something to eat. Fox followed her silently to her home office.

“You’ve been quiet, Commander. Is something bothering you?” Jai asked as she typed in the code to call Her Excellency and her Queen.

“No.”

“That’s a lie.”

“It is not.”

“Fox,” she said looking at him from over her shoulder, “you are a very bad liar. What’s bothering you?”

Fox said nothing.

“Is it because Geirdiful is with the Separatists?”

Fox again said nothing, but she could sense that that was exactly what was bothering.

“Just because one of the _Rocstóll aff Níu_ is with the Separatists doesn’t make us one of them.”

“The what?”

“The _Rocstóll aff Níu_ means Council of Nine. It is the name of my order. Please don’t be angry with me.”

“I’m not angry.”

“It took a long time for Her Excellency to decide to send Geirdiful to the Separatists. It wasn’t easy.”

Fox didn’t get a chance to say anything else, as the call finally connected.

Jai straightened, expecting to see Her Excellency or Sigrún, but instead found Her Majesty, Princess Severine.

Jai blinked, startled at the Second Princess’s appearance, who didn’t seem to be aware of the Holocall. She just sat there, reading whatever book she had in her hands, her black mass of curls falling across her features.

Jai cleared her throat, causing the Princess to jump. Her head whipping around to find the source of the noise before her eyes landed on the call.

“Oh… hello, Gondul,” she said in her breathy voice. “Why are you calling me?”

“I meant to call your sister and Sigrún, Your Majesty.”

“Oh? Which sister?... No, I don’t think she’s lying. Why would she?”

“Artemisia, Your Majesty.”

“Oh, I see. I’ll patch you through then. Did you know that sometimes the walls of House Whitfield bleed? It’s quite terrifying. But don’t worry, I have good friends that help keep my home healthy.”

The Princess’s rambling went on like this until she was able to patch Jai through to the Empress and Sigrún.

Within a few minutes, the Princess’s image disappeared and was replaced by the image of her Empress and her Queen. Jai instantly fell into a curtsy.

“Your Excellency, My Queen,” she greeted.

Sigrún smiled kindly at her. Her blonde hair tied in a braid over her shoulder, her pale green eyes crinkling at the corners. Her vivid blue wings tucked behind her. She was older than the rest of the Nine, but she was only in her early thirties.

“Hello, Gondul. It’s been a while,” she greeted. “How have you been?”

“Very well, all things considered.”

“Yes,” spoke up the Empress, “we heard about the attempts on your life. Are you alright?”

Jai smiled at the Empress.

“Yes, I am. Thanks to the Commanders,” she said gesturing to Fox behind her, who inclined his head.

Sigrún’s wings flapped, before settling back down.

“Then I owe you my gratitude, Commander, for protecting Gondul,” she said bowing to Fox, which left Jai and Artemisia stunned.

Fox seemed to think nothing of this, returning the gesture.

“What do you have anything to report?” Sigrún asked turning back to Jai.

“Uhh… yes. I had my first meeting in the Senate today.”

Sigrún nodded. Artemisia saw Sigrún nodded and did the same.

“It went well… other than an incident with the Trade Federation.”

“What’s the Trade Federation?” asked the young Empress.

“The Trade Federation is a shipping conglomerate that owns large commercial trade fleets. Among other things.”

“Oh.”

“What did the Trade Federation want?”

“They accused us of being spies of the Separatists since Geirdiful is with them. They also believe that we are trying to keep things from them.”

The Empress looked outraged, while Sigrún appeared thoughtful.

“Proceed with caution, Gondul. We don’t know what the Trade Federation, or Chidori. Please be careful.”

Jai nodded.

The meeting lasted for a few minutes before the two leaders signed off.

Jai instantly took her hair down and began rubbing her scalp.


	9. Dinner Party Disaster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Jai and her inability to remember names.

“Come now, I know you know this,” Satine encouraged, as Fox held up a picture of one of the Senators that was going to be attending the dinner party tonight.

Jai stared intently at the image of the young woman with brown hair. She knew her. This was the one that showed Jai to her new office and defended her in the Senate. But she just couldn’t place her name. Jai was tugging at her hair, which Fox batted her hand away, for what was probably the thousandth time that day.

“C’mon, cyar’ika, you can do this,” Fox said.

The Duchess gave him a look but said nothing.

“That’s… the Senator from… Naboo?”

Both the Duchess and Fox grinned.

“That’s right, darling! Now, what’s her name?”

“Ummm… Amanda?”

Their shoulders dropped.

“Did I get it wrong again?”

They had been at it for over an hour now.

“You’ll get it.”

Jai pulled at her hair, groaning.

“I’m trying! I promise!”

Fox batted her hands away from her hair, then patted her head.

“We know, cyar’ika. Let’s try another one.”

Jai only had had four names to learn, but it felt like climbing a mountain.

Fox changed the image to a man, who she didn’t recognize.

“What planet is he the senator of?” Satine asked.

Jai stared, trying to wrack her brain to place him.

“Ummm… it starts with an A, right?”

Her two companions nodded encouragingly. Jai stared at the image so long that Fox and the Duchess started getting worried.

“Cyar’ika, what’s going through your mind?”

“I’m thinking that if I throw myself off the balcony I can save myself from the embarrassment tonight.”

“Why don’t we take a little break. We’ve been at this for a while,” Satine suggested.

Jai nodded, going to the kitchen, and pouring herself a glass of wine, which Fox took from her.

“Bu—”

“Cyar’ika, you need to stay sober. This is to help you attend the gala in a few weeks.”

“Do I have to?”

Fox smiled.

“Yes, I’m afraid you do.”

Jai slumped her head against Fox’s shoulder.

“I’m never gonna remember all these names.”

Fox patted her head.

“You remembered my name.”

“Don’t try and cheer me up when I’m trying to pout!”

Her _Refur_ chuckled.

“I heard about the commotion the other night with the 104th. What was that all about?”

Fox made a noise, that she felt more than heard.

“Some of Wolffe’s men set a trash can on fire.”

Jai laughed for the first time that day.

“A trash can! Why?”

“Hell if I know. Then Wolffe and his Civilian barge into my office yesterday demanding that I release them.”

“Did you?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t seem to like this Wolffe, why?”

“Let’s just say we don’t get along. What’s the Senator of Batuu’s name?”

“OH, _screw you!”_ Jai exclaimed, shoving him away and pouting.

Fox laughed.

“I’m sorry, I was just seeing if you’d know it.”

“She’s not even going to be there tonight!” Jai said puffing out her cheeks.

“But she will be at the gala.”

“Maybe I’ll shove you off the balcony!”

The Commander took her hands in his, running his thumbs over her knuckles.

“Remember to just breathe. It will be Senator Padme Amidala of Naboo, she’s hosting the party. Then Riyo Chuchi of Pantora, Bail Organa of Alderaan, and Onaconda Farr of Rodia. You’re going to great.”

“Couldn’t they wear nametags?”

“No, I don’t think they can?”

“Maybe I can tell them that I got sick and I can’t make it!”

“No.”

Jai pouted and tried to extract her hand from Fox’s to pull at her hair, but Fox wouldn’t let her.

“I’m going to break you of that habit.”

Jai pouted.

Satine walked in and zeroed in on their hands.

“What’s going on?”

“The Commander is trying to break me of my hair pulling habit,” Jai grumbled.

Satine looked pleased with that.

“Good. It’s about time you stop that.”

“I feel like I’m being attacked.”

Her friends chuckled.

Hours later, Jai stood before her mirror, examining her appearance, feeling like her heart was going to jump out of her throat, or cry or both. She smoothed done the folds of her black corseted top, A-line, floor-length dress.

“You look great,” Thire said smiling.

“Thank you.”

“You’re gonna do great,” Thorn said.

There was a knock on the door, and Fox entered. He took one look at her before clearing his throat.

“Duchess Satine has just arrived.”

“Right. Thank you,” she said picking up her skirt.

Satine was waiting in the living room, in her full Mandalorian regalia. She smiled when she saw the young woman.

“You look lovely,” the Duchess said, kissing her cheek as her clones came to stand next to her.

“Thank you. You look lovely, too.”

“Shall we go? We shan’t keep _who_ waiting?”

“Ummm… Am-i- _dala?”_

There was a collective cheer from the people around her.

“Yes! That’s right!” Satine smiled widely at her.

The trip to… Senator Amanda’s flat wasn’t long, but not long enough for Jai’s liking.

When Thire knocked on the door, a golden droid answered the door.

“Oh, hello Senator Yang! Duchess Satine! Welcome, welcome,” he said hustling them inside. “Hello, Commanders!”

The brunette from the Senate meeting came to greet Jai and the Duchess with a smile.

“It’s so good to see you, Senator Yang,” she greeted while Jai was drawing a blank on her name.

“It’s good to see you too Senator…”

“ _Amidala,”_ Fox whispered in her ear.

“… Amidala.”

If the woman noticed Fox’s whispering, she said nothing.

“Please,” she said gesturing to the people behind her, “come and meet some of the other senators. I figured, since Yggdrasil has only just come out of isolation, you wouldn’t have many allies. I thought this would be the perfect way for you to get to know some of your co-workers.”

Jai gave her, what she hoped was a pleased smile, while on the inside she was praying to all the Spirits for the ground to open up and swallow her. What had she done to deserve this? Was it too late to switch with Olrun? No, she would not have lasted two days as a senator. Maybe Kara or Eir would switch with her. No, they would laugh at her. Gunnr or Hildr? No, that was a terrible idea. And Sigrún wouldn’t leave Norma, and Geirdiful was already with the Separatists. Which just left her.

“You’re pulling your hair again,” Fox whispered. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m doomed.”

“You’ll do fine.”

Senator Amanda introduced her to Basil Organ, Rito Cheerio, and Anaconda Faris… No that wasn’t their names! Jai desperately tried to remember what they were as they sat down to eat.

“So, Senator Yang, tell me,” Senator Origin said, “why did the Yggdrasil Empire decide to come out of isolation?”

Jai felt relieved, a question she knew the answer to.

“Her Excellency’s late mother, Empress Marie, felt that the Empire had lived too long in its sphere of influence and felt it best to start building a relationship with the rest of the galaxy. Her Excellency agrees with her.”

“What happened to Marie?” Cheerio asked.

Jai sighed, hoping the question would never come up.

“Empress Marie, along with her husband, Emperor Shay, was murdered a few years ago.” Many of the utensils and cups began trembling. “Us Nine was away from the palace, having to deal with an issue on Almer. If we had only been there…” The lights began to flicker, before Jai was able to regain control of herself. “It will forever haunt us. But not as much as it will the Empress and her sisters.”

Amanda gasped.

“Don’t tell me…”

“Yes, I’m afraid the three princesses witnessed the whole thing.”

There was a stunned silence from the people gathered, even her clones were silent.

“That’s horrible.”

Jai said nothing, just stared into her food, the memories of that day running through her mind.

“Changing the subject,” the Duchess spoke up a few minutes later, “Senator Farr, how goes trade-in Rodia?”

“It’s excellent,” he said grateful for the change. “I was wondering if it was possible to begin trading with Norma,” he said turning to Jai.

“I’ll have to run it by Her Excellency, but I don’t see why not.”

“Khordin Steel would be an invaluable resource for us.”

Jai narrowed her eyes, searching the man’s mind for reasons why he would specifically want Khordin Steel. Which was only made in the Yggdrasil System. What she found was him thinking about how it could be used for the war effort.

“I don’t know about Khordin Steel. But we would be able to give you other resources.”

“What’s Khordin Steel?” the blue one asked.

Jai pursed her lips, wondering if she should tell them. Reaching out, she found only innocent curiosity from the others.

“Well, Senator Cheerio…”

“ _Chuchi_.”

“…Chuchi, Khordin Steel is a precious metal found only in the Yggdrasil System. We use it to make armor or weapons. It’s like Beskar.”

The other senators seemed stunned by this.

“Do you have some with you?”

“No,” Jai lied. She, in fact, had Khordin Steel gauntlets back at her flat.

The rest of the dinner went by in a stressful haze for Jai, as they changed the subject again, with Jai feeling like she was at her wit's end trying to remember everything Fox and the Duchess taught her earlier. She had never been more grateful for Fox than she was during that dinner. Even if he kept batting her hand away from her hair.

By the time they made it back to her flat, Jai was utterly exhausted, to the point that she collapsed in her bed without even changing out of her dress.

“Cyar’ika, you need to change clothes. You can’t sleep in that, you’ll hurt yourself.”

Jai groaned into her pillow but stood anyway. Grabbing a shirt, she made her way into her fresher.

“You did great,” Fox called.

“Bite me!” she called back.

Fox chuckled.

Coming back out a few minutes later, she let the expensive dress crumple on the floor and collapsed back into her bed. She watched as Fox picked the dress up and draped it over a chair and pulled the covers over her.

“Get some rest, cyar’ika.”

“Fox…” Jai said getting his attention before he left.

“What does that mean? You keep calling me cyar’ika. What’s it mean?”

Fox grinned, before winking at her.

“I’ll let you figure that out.”

He quickly shut the door, laughing, as a pillow hit the door


	10. Day Off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has supported this fic.  
> And be sure to check out minnieears's Saving the Senator and THe Civvie. As our fics frequently crossover with each other.

“Come _on,_ Fox!” Jai called, jumping at the bit to leave. Fox was taking his sweet time, and it was irritating her.

“ _Fox, let’s go!”_

She heard him chuckle from the other room.

“Just give me a minute.”

She folded her arms and started tapping her foot. When _finally_ Fox came out, putting his helmet on. Which left Jai slightly disappointed. He always wore it. She liked seeing his face.

“It’s about time, Fox!”

He chuckled.

“I wasn’t that long.”

“Yes, you were!”

“Ten minutes is not that long.”

“It is when you haven’t had a day off in a month.”

Fox held up his hands in surrender.

“Okay, okay. I give up, let’s go.”

Jai smiled widely at him, and quickly grabbed his arm and all but dragged him out of the flat.

“You’re gonna have to show me around the city, since I know nothing about where anything is,” Jai said, looping her arms around his.

Fox seemed to consider this for a moment, before agreeing, the smile evident in his voice.

The speeder ride to the shopping district was a short one, which Jai was grateful for, as she was bouncing in her seat to finally get to see the city up close. And she got a whole day with Fox!

Fox, the ever-patient man he was, paid the driver when Jai all but flew out of the speeder. There were more colors than could be seen from her flat or the Senate building.

“Fox, c’mon!”

“Are you going to be this impatient all day?”

“Maybe.”

Jai looped her arms through his again, as they began walking.

“So,” Jai started, “why don’t you like this Commander Wolffe?”

Fox looked at her.

“Is this really what you want to talk about on your day off?”

“Yes. I’d like to know. And besides, we’ll be attending a gala in his and… and… what’s her name again?”

“It’s his Civilian Contractor, and don’t remind me.”

Jai pouted, she had found that that usually got information out of him.

“Please?” she asked in her most innocent voice.

Fox groaned.

“Wolffe seems to think I copy him since my name is Fox. And how come you can remember Wolffe’s name, yet you think the Senator of Naboo’s name is Panda Amanda?”

“Because you bitched about him for nearly an entire week, remember?”

“Oh, yeah…” Fox said slowly.

“And I’m telling you, the Senators just need to wear nametags. And all my problems would disappear… well, almost all of them.”

They spent a few hours going into various stores, not really buying much but enjoying each other’s company.

Jai was starting to get hungry and asked if he wanted to get some food, which Fox agreed to.

“Alright,” he said as they were sitting down. “You’ve asked about my childhood, I want to know a little more about yours.”

Jai had to think for a moment before she started smiling softly.

“When I fist started training with my Master, she would always stop to correct me. ‘Stop, pivot, turn,’ that sort of thing. Then winter came and a lake near the fortress froze over and I managed to convince her to go ice skating with me. During the trip, she kept falling, while I was skating circles around her, literally. I kept telling her ‘stop, pivot, turn, you’re doing it wrong. I think that’s my favorite memory.”

Fox smiled at the memory and the woman in front of him. She looked beautiful, though she always looked beautiful. But today, she wasn’t in Norman regalia, only in normal clothes. Her silver hair was pulled back in a ponytail, she was wearing a black and white horizontal striped, off-the-shoulder sweater, shorts, black thigh socks, and black shoes. She looked relaxed, happy even, as she shared stories from her childhood. Most involved her Master, who seemed to have been a kind woman. Fox wished he had gotten to meet her.

When they left the café, she smiled as she looped her arms through his again, which he immensely happy about. They’d only been on the street for a couple of minutes when Jai’s demeanor completely changed. She became rigid, her eyes scanning the skyline.

Jai felt the unmistakable presence of Chidori. She shoved Fox out of the way just as a blaster shot landed where he had just been. Jai jumped out of the way as another one came towards her. Several more came at her, which she froze.

“Fox,” her voice serious, “get all the civilians out of here.”

“But, what about you?”

“Go! I can handle this. And I can’t keep these frozen forever.”

Fox seemed reluctant to leave her.

“ _GO!”_

Fox immediately started evacuating the civilians in the area, with the help of a few other clones that were in the area.

“Cyar’ika, you need to go too!”

“NO! If I move then these go off! I’m fine _rafim._ Let me handle this.”

“Yes, _rafim_ , let her handle this,” Chidori’s voice said.

“GO!” Jai let a single bolt go to shove Fox away.

Chidori laughed.

“Show yourself, you coward,” Jai said through gritted teeth.

“What’s the matter, little sister? Don’t like my present?” Chidori asked landing a few yards away from her.

“Not really. Here you can have them _back!”_ Jai turned the bolts towards Chidori and let go of them.

Chidori dodged them effortlessly. But it was enough of a distraction for Jai to get close to her. Chidori turned to find Jai right there, fist drew back, which then collided with her face and sent her flying into an empty building.

“Well, well,” Chidori said getting up from the rubble. “You’ve certainly gotten a lot stronger.”

“You’ll find _sister,”_ she said it with venom dripping from every syllable, “that I’m not the same little girl you once knew.”

Jai launched herself at her sister. Throwing punch after punch at her, until Chidori caught her hand. Bruises beginning to form on her jaw.

“I will admit, you aren’t the same girl. But you’ll still be beaten the same way.”

Chidori twisted Jai’s arm and kicked her in the middle. Jai skittered across the pavement but managed to regain her footing as Chidori came at her with a knife. Jai raised her arms in front of her face and the knife made a loud _clang_ sound when it came in contact with her crossed wrist.

Chidori made a sound of confusion.

“Did you really think I’d be that stupid to not have some sort of protection on me, while out in the city?”

Chidori’s expression became fearful as she noted the sound of her sister’s voice. Gone was the cheery, bubbly voice of Jai. There in its stead was the deep, angry voice of Gondul of the Nine.

“There was a reason why I was made Gondul. And it wasn’t because I was my Master’s student.”

Objects all around them began lifting into the air. Chairs, tables, stalls, anything.

“Do your worst, _sister.”_

Chidori came at her again with the knife, and Gondul dodged, driving her fist into her stomach, before uppercutting her in the jaw.

Chidori fell to the floor. Gondul watched as she writhed on the ground.

Chidori then blasted Gondul with lightning, sending her flying backward.

“You’re not the only one that’s learned a few tricks.”

Gondul slowly rose and picked up a turned over stall and hurled it at Chidori, who blasted it apart.

Gondul was on the other side of the stall and her fist collided with Chidori’s face, but not before she managed to cut Gondul’s thigh. Gondul grabbed Chidori’s neck and threw her into the ground. Chidori again shocked Gondul.

“Maybe, your clone will be more helpful,” Chidori said racing to where Fox was.

This made Gondul see red.

“You. Will. Not. Touch. HIM!” Gondul screamed throwing her into a building.

“What’s wrong? He’s just a clone?”

Gondul said nothing, grabbing Chidori’s neck and squeezing.

Chidori sent a wave of electricity through her, which made Gondul let go.

“You know,” Chidori coughed. “You’re more like the Jedi you claim to hate so much.”

“I never said I hated them.”

Chidori threw a knife at her, which managed to nick her shoulder.

“You’re weak, Jai! Just like Marie and Shay! No wonder they were so easy to kill!”

This made Gondul freeze in place.

“What?”

“It was so easy to lure you Nine away from them!”

Chidori began laughing maniacally.

Gondul threw herself at her, throwing punch after punch until her knuckles went numb and Chidori fell to the floor, at which point Gondul started kicking at cursing her.

Chidori sent out another wave of electricity and flew off. Leaving Jai standing there panting, glaring after her. Bruises started forming and she began to feel all her injuries.

Fox ran up to her a few minutes later, his helmet nowhere to be seen.

He cupped her face in his hands, examining her for serious injuries. When he found none he seemed to relax and rested his forehead against her.

“Don’t do something like that again. You had me terrified.”

“I’m sorry,” Jai said, her voice back to normal.

“I was so worried.”

“I know. I’m so sorry, Fox. If I—”

But she didn’t get to finish as Fox had pressed his lips to hers.


	11. The Gala

Jai spun around in her new dress that Her Excellency had sent her. It was beautiful, the beading was perfect, and the detachable train.

“You look beautiful, cyar’ika.”

Jai turned to Fox, who was leaning against the door frame. She smiled at him as he pushed himself from the door frame and came to stand behind her and wrap his arms around her waist. He placed a kiss on her shoulder, then her cheek.

“Your Empress has good taste,” he commented.

Jai smiled down at the gown.

“Agreed.”

As the final touch, she put on her tiara with the nine-pointed star of the _Rocstóll aff Níu._

“Ready?” Fox asked, holding out his arm for her, which she took gratefully.

Thire and Thorn were waiting outside by the speeder, and she could feel their smiles, even though they wore their helmets.

“You look great.”

“Thank you.”

The trip to the Senate Building was a short one. When the speeder stopped, her clones got out first, and Jai started to panic with all the press and senators. Fox held out his hand to help her out of the speeder. The flashes felt nearly blinding, but Jai latched herself onto Fox as they walked in. Ignoring all the questions about the Chidori attack or Norman War Policies.

“Those people are vultures!” she exclaimed when they made it inside.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Senator Amanda said by way of greeting.

The two women shook hands.

“This place looks amazing, Panda—”

“ _Padme_ …”

“…Padme, you should be proud.”

“Thank you, Senator Yang. I heard about the attack the other day. Are you alright?”

Jai waved the question away.

“I’m perfectly fine, Panda—”

“ _Padme_ …”

“Padme.”

Panda smiled at her.

“You’re dress is beautiful. Who made it?”

Jai glanced down at it, a wave of panic going through her. She hadn’t asked Her Excellency who made the dress.

“Ummm… Her Excellency had it made for me. So I’m not really for sure.”

“Well, it’s lovely,” Senator Cheerio said, coming to stand next to Amanda.

“Thank you.”

Then she felt her friends tense behind her. Turning, she noticed them standing at attention, before feeling another, more unpleasant presence in front of her. Turning again, she found Chancellor Palpitate smiling at her.

“So glad you could join us, Senator. I was afraid after what happened the other day, you wouldn’t want to come.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t miss it.”

The Chancellor and Panda left them to go up to the stage when another accidentally bumped into her. She was wearing blue.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said the blue-clad Senator.

“No need to worry. Happy accidents happen. Are you alright?”

She nodded, then she looked like she was about to be sick.

“Sorry, I need to go!”

Thorn and Thire left to join the other guards during the event, leaving Jai and Fox alone around the edges of the ballroom. Which reminded Jai a lot of life at Norma when she had to guard events just like this one.

Soon, the two guests of honor arrived: Corgi and Cherri… no, that wasn’t it. Doggo and Carin? No that’s wrong too.

“Fox,” she said, not quite turning her head to face him, “what are the two guests of honor’s names again?”

“Wolffe and the Civilian Auxiliary Commander. I’ve heard the 104th call her Civvie.”

Jai watched as Corgi and Cherri received their metals. Neither seemed to want to be here. The tension between the two could have been cut with a butter knife. They were being too obvious. Then the dancing started. She watched as the tension continued to mount between the two, thinking that they could use a little help from Rota on how to act like nothing was going on between them. It was painfully obvious.

Jai turned to look hopefully at Fox, who sadly shook his head.

“I’d love to dance with you, cyar’ika. But not here. Not with the Chancellor present.”

Jai frowned.

“But Corgi and Cherri—”

“Wolffe and Civvie.”

“Whatever. Are dancing. _Please?”_

Fox shook his head again.

“I’m sorry, cyar’ika. But no.”

Jai huffed before pulling him behind a curtain.

“But _why?_ I want to dance with you?”

Fox sighed, taking her hands in his own, he ran his fingers over her knuckles.

“I know. I want that too. But it’s too risky. With the way Wolffe and his Civilian are acting, I don’t want the Chancellor to think I’m getting too close and reassign me. I don’t think I could handle that.”

Jai pouted.

Fox rested his hands on her hips and pulled her closer.

“We can dance when we get home? Is that fine?”

But before she could answer, the curtain they were behind was thrown open. Causing Jai and Fox to spring apart.

Corgi grew a devilish smile when he saw the two of them.

“Oh, what did we just find here, Civ.”

The small woman elbowed him.

“Sorry,” she apologized, “we were just looking for the exit to the balconies.”

Try as she might, she could not move the clone, who had rooted himself to the spot.

“I should point out that your obvious tension was obvious for all to see,” Jai laughed, putting her hands on her hips. Reveling in the way the man’s smile faded quickly, and finally allowed the woman to pull him away.

Fox cursed.

“That was too close.”

“I know,” Jai said, not really paying attention. “I want to follow them.”

“You want to do what?”

“Follow them,” she said turning to her Fox, a grin to rival his namesake plastered on her face. “Aren’t you curious?”

“Yes, but I don’t want to _spy_ on them.”

“Where’s your sense of adventure, Fox?”

She didn’t need to see his face to know he was rolling his eyes. Jai didn’t wait to see if he was following her. She stood right out of view of the balcony and extended her senses to know what was going on. Fox very reluctantly came to stand next to her.

“They’re arguing.”

“Jai, I really don’t think you should be doing this.”

Jai just smiled at him.

“Oh, they’re kissing now!” Jai whispered with glee.

Fox just groaned and put his head in his hand.

“They’re arguing again. I swear they’re worse than Sigrún and her children.”

“Sigrún has kids?”

Jai nodded.

“Two sons, Maxwell and Harrison.”

Then Jai started hustling Fox away, as the couple came back out.

“You know, I think Corgi—”

“Wolffe.”

“… is just trying to push Cherri—”

“Civvie.”

“… away because he doesn’t know how to feel his feelings.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me.”

Then two clones in blue armor approached them, smiling.

“You must be Gondul,” said the one with the number five tattooed on the side of his head.

“You’re exactly like she said you’d look like,” said the other one.

“I am Gondul. Can I ask who’s asking?”

The one with the tattoo smiled.

“Olrun said to tell you hi if we saw you.”

“Olrun? Oh. You must be with the 501st.”

“Yeah, I’m Fives,” he said holding out his hand.

“Nice to meet you, Twos—”

“ _Fives_.”

“Fives.”

Twos and the other one exchanged looks.

“Riiiight… and I’m Echo.”

Ego held out his hand, which Jai shook.

“How is Olrun doing?”

“She’s doing good?”

“Has she made any new friends? She’s always had such a problem trusting people after… well she just doesn’t make friends easily.”

The two clones stared at her like she had grown a second head.

“Huh?”

“Has she made friends?” Jai asked again smiling.

Twos and Ego exchanged looks again.

“You two are nothing alike.”

“Like a complete one-eighty of each other.”

“She’s doing good. I’d like to think the two of us are friends. Though, she might not agree with that statement,” Twos said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Wonderful,” Jai beamed at the two men.

The rest of the night passed with relative peace, with soon enough Jai was telling Fox she was ready to leave, as she had to be up early in the morning to be at a meeting of the Council of Neutral Systems.

“Of course, Senator.”

When they entered the speeder, Jai wrapped her arms around one of his and snuggled into his side and rested her head against his shoulder, and closed her eyes.

“You did great, cyar’ika.”

“Thank you, Fox,” she yawned. “You still owe me a dance.”

Jai could feel her Fox’s smile.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

By the time they made it home, Jai was nearly asleep, and Fox’s arm was completely numb.

“Cyar’ika,” Fox said gently, “we’re home.”

Jai got out of the speeder as Fox tried to bring feeling back to his arm. By the time they made it up to her flat, he had just about regained feeling.

Once the door was closed, Jai skipped over to her sound system and scrolled until she found the song she was looking for and pushed play.

Spinning around, a large smile on her face, and held out her hand.

“You said you’d dance with me.”

Fox removed his helmet and placed it on the counter, smiling as well.

“That I did,” he said taking her hand.

What Fox didn’t know, is the song placing was considered sacred among the Norman. It was written centuries ago, and only those who believed they found true love would dance to it.


	12. Council of Neutral Systems

Jai’s alarm woke her with a start. She groaned as she slammed her hand down on the button. The bed felt colder than it had when she had gone to bed. It felt emptier.

Jai pouted, still not wanting to open her eyes.

“Cyar’ika, it’s time to get up.”

“What if I don’t _want_ to get up?”

Fox chuckled.

“I’m afraid you do.”

Jai turned over, choosing to ignore her lover.

“I made caff.”

She turned back over and cracked an eye open.

“Mmmm… fine.”

She threw off her covers and pulled on a shirt. She didn’t know if it was hers or his.

Fox smiled as she stood and pulled her into a kiss.

“Good morning, cyare.”

“Is it?”

Fox laughed.

“C’mon, I made breakfast.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know.”

Breakfast was a subdued affair, with both of them consuming unhealthy amounts of caff, before Jai had to go get dressed.

Today she wore a simple black silk, long sleeve dress, and her hair pulled back in a loose bun. With lots of yawning in between.

“Tired?” Fox asked from his spot in the doorway.

“I wouldn’t be if you hadn’t kept me up last night.”

“That’s not how I remember it.”

“Then you have…” Jai broke off in a yawn, “a worse memory than I do.”

Fox chuckled before coming to plant a kiss on her cheek.

“The Duchess leaves tomorrow,” she frowned, gazing at him in the mirror.

“Is that alright?”

“Yes… no… I don’t know. I know she has to go back to Mandalore, but it’ll fill weird not having her here.”

Fox was about to reply when his commlink went off. Picking it up, his expression changed to one of confusion.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Captain Rex of the 501st.”

“The Captain in charge of the unit Olrun was assigned to?”

Fox nodded.

“What would he want?”

“No idea. Give me a minute.”

Fox left to take the call, while Jai turned back to her reflection and did her best to hide evidence of the previous night.

Fox came back a few minutes later shaking his head, as Jai was applying concealer.

“What did he want, Love?”

“A unit transfer.”

“Oh, Olrun isn’t _that_ bad.”

“I don’t think it had to do with Olrun.”

“Then what?”

“He wouldn’t say. But I told him no.”

Jai stood, ready to face the day. Fox went in for a kiss on the lips, but she turned her head, so he caught her cheek.

Fox gave her a questioning look.

“I don’t want any of this to smear, Love.”

Fox nodded and held out his arm for her, which she took gladly.

Jai yawned again as they left, which caused Fox to grow a wolfish grin.

“Oh, shut up!”

“I didn’t say anything,” Fox said as he put on his helmet.

“You think loudly.”

Fox howled with laughter.

Jai groaned as they arrived at the Senate Building.

“The sun’s not even out! Why am I here?”

Fox chuckled as he helped her out of the speeder.

“Because your Empress felt you best for the job.”

Jai pouted as they quickly made their way inside. There were very few people in the Senate Building at that hour, mostly just staff and Senate Guards.

“Satine better have a good reason why she’s holding a meeting at an hour that only the Spirits would be up.”

Fox chuckled as he showed her the way to the meeting room.

Jai yawned for what felt like the thousandth time that morning.

“I hate you,” she muttered under her breath.

Fox chuckled.

“That’s not what you said last night.”

“Oh shut up.”

When they made it to the meeting room, they were met by varying degrees of sleepy senators. Who all muttered their greetings to them. Only the Duchess seemed wide awake.

_This is going to be a long day,_ Jai thought as she took her place, with Fox standing behind her.

The meeting was mostly spent having to keep each other awake, as senators would start to drift off mid-sentence only for the person next to them to shake them awake. Jai spent most of her time rolling her pen across the table and watching it rollback.

It wasn’t until long after the sun had risen that any of them became anywhere close to being awake, and even then it was hard to concentrate on anything for longer than a few minutes.

Suddenly, the terminal in the center of the table turned on to reveal Geirdiful’s form. Everyone was awake and alert now. Geirdiful seemed nervous, she kept looking over her shoulder and pushing her frizzy mass of black hair out of her face.

“To the _Rocstóll aff Níu,_ I think I might have found something that might give us the break we need,” she whispered nervously, looking back over her shoulder. “I can’t say for sure what it is. But it’s something.”

A sound played from behind her, causing her sister to jump and look to see what it was. It must have been nothing, as she let out a sigh of relief.

“I can’t say much more now. I think I’m being followed. I don’t think the Count trusts us that much. I will call if and when I find out more. Geirdiful out.”

Her image disappeared, and everyone turned their eyes on Jai.


	13. Wolffe the Bunny

Jai woke up to kisses being peppered over her cheek and shoulder. She grunted and tried to shake the man off her, wanting to sleep for a little while longer. He only chuckled and kept kissing her.

“ _Fooooox,”_ she whined. “I want to sleep.”

“But it’s time to get up cyare.”

“Not for those working from home, it isn’t.”

Jai rolled over, still not opening her eyes, but snuggled into her lover’s side.

“You have to get up sometime, Jai.”

She could feel Fox’s smile.

“Says who?”

“Says the man about to leave the bed.”

Jai wrapped her arms around Fox and held him to her.

“No, you aren’t.”

Fox laughed, which made Jai smile. But then his commlink started ringing, which made them both groan.

“I’m going to throw that damn thing anyway if he keeps that up!” Jai exclaimed, finally tearing her eyes open.

“You and me both,” grumbled Fox.

She mourned the loss of Fox’s warmth, as he got up to answer what had to be the thousandth call that week from Captain Rex. There was a small clucking noise from the foot of the bed and Jai smiled at the small bunny that she and Fox had just adopted. It was a mini lop, white with dark gray ears, nose, and mouth.

“Hello, there little Wolffe.”

The tiny bunny hopped over to Jai and sniffed her hand then lowered his head to be petted.

“Who’s a good boy? Did you sleep well last night, Ulfur?”

Wolffe nipped at her fingers.

“Do you think we get up?”

Wolffe turned and jumped off the bed.

“I guess that’s my answer.”

Jai threw off her covers and followed the tiny bunny to the kitchen where Fox was hanging up on Rex. Jai went to the fridge and grabbed the bag of leafy vegetables and put some into his bowl. While Fox grabbed some eggs and began cooking them while Jai bent down and stroking Wolffe’s ears.

“Thank you, Love.”

“For?”

“Getting me Ulfur.”

Fox smiled.

“I thought you’d love him.”

“But why the name Wolffe?”

Fox chuckled.

“I just thought it would be cute.”

Jai smiled, stood, and started helping Fox with breakfast. She kissed his cheek, which made Fox grin.

“I love him.”

They made the full Norman breakfast, which included sausage, bacon, sunny side up eggs, beans, fried tomatoes and mushrooms, toast, and black pudding. The lovers sat at the dining table eating until there was some soft honking by Fox’s feet. Looking down, he smiled at the little bunny nudging his ankle. Bending down, he slid his hand under Wolffe’s belly and hindlegs and set him on his lap.

Once they had finished eating, Fox placed Wolffe back on the ground as they cleaned up, but then Fox’s commlink started ringing again, causing them both to groan.

“Doesn’t he have better things to do?” Jai asked angrily.

“I guess not,” Fox grumbled. “You’d think running the 501st would keep a man busy.”

“Ignore it, Love!” she whined.

Wolffe honked in agreement.

“See! Even Wolffe agrees!”

“I think I should just change my number.”

“I think you should too. Maybe then we’ll get some sleep.”

Wolffe nudged Jai’s ankle, and Jai bent down to pet him.

“This all started after the Senator of Batuu came back. I want to talk to her.”

“Cyar’ika, please don’t threaten the poor woman.”

“I have no intention of threatening her. I just want to see the reason why we’re losing sleep. And Wolffe wants to know too! Don’tcha buddy?”

Wolffe honked.

“Exactly.”

“Don’t you have work you should be getting to?”

“Oh, shit, you’re right! I have a meeting with Senator Organ soon.”

“It’s Organa – you know what, never mind.”

Jai quickly dressed, while avoiding Wolffe, who was circling her feet.

Jai walked into her home office, with Wolffe hopping in after her, and Fox sitting in the corner typing away at his computer. Wolffe stopped, periscoping, looking between Jai and Fox, trying to figure out who to go to. He ended up choosing Jai and nudged her ankle.

She picked him up and placed him in her lap as her Holo-call to the Senator was connecting.

“Good morning, Senator Yang,” greeted the Senator.

“Good morning, Senator Organ.”

The man pursed his lips but said nothing.

“We were going to continue talks about opening up trade between Yggdrasil and Alderaan?” he asked.

“Yes. I have been given the go-ahead from Her Excellency. She believes it would be an excellent idea.”

She pulled up the points that her Empress had sent her to be negotiated.

The meeting was halfway through when Wolffe periscoped to see who she was speaking to.

“Who is this?” Organ laughed.

“This is Wolffe. He’s the newest member of the Yang family.”

“Well, he is adorable. How long have you had him?”

“About a week.”

“Well, congratulations.”

“Thank you! So one other thing I wanted to run by you, is that my Empress wanted more suggestions for trading partners.”

“I’d love to! I can send a list over in a bit.”

Wolffe honked.

“I think Wolffe likes that idea.”

Organ laughed.

Jai giggled.

“I can’t wait for that,” she smiled.

The rest of the meeting went smoothly, with the occasional honk from Wolffe, and Holo-call from Rex. Finally, Jai signed off of the meeting and set Wolffe down on the floor, and stretched. 


	14. Senator of Batuu and Shots

Jai sat at her desk typing out her proposal for expanding trade with other systems when there was a knock on the door. Fox looked up from what he was reading and glanced at her.

“Were you expecting someone today?”

She nodded, smiling.

“I’m expecting the Senator from Batuu!”

Fox frowned.

“You’re not going to threaten her, right?”

Jai rolled her eyes.

“Do you really think so little of me?”

“Given some of the things you say… yes.”

Jai huffed, and there was a honk over in the corner.

“See, Wolffe agrees with me,” she said.

“No, I think Wolffe agrees with me,” Fox countered.

There was another knock at the door.

“Go answer the door,” she chuckled.

Fox smiled as he stood and answered the door.

A small woman dressed in blue entered, looking a bit nervous.

“Hello, Senator!” Jai said standing and going over to meet her.

The two women shook hands, and Jai gestured for her to sit in one of her chairs.

“So, why did you call me here?” she asked.

“I wanted to talk to you about possibly opening a trade route between Batuu and Yggdrasil.”

The small woman seemed stunned.

“Open trade between Batuu and the Yggdrasil Empire?”

Jai nodded.

“All… two hundred and fifty planets?”

Jai nodded once again.

“That is… there are a few things my Empress has wished to discuss before we can finalize the trade route.”

The woman blinked.

“Why would the Yggdrasil Empire want to trade with us? Batuu’s not nearly as important as Yggdrasil.”

Jai smiled pleasantly at the woman.

“Her Excellency has made it quite clear to me that any new trading partners are to be welcomed.”

Before the Senator could reply, there was a thump by her feet. Looking down her face lit up at the sight of Wolffe.

“Who’s this?” she asked, bending down, and holding out her hand for him to sniff.

“This is Wolffe. He’s my baby!”

“Hello, Wolffe.”

Wolffe seemed satisfied by this new person as he finished sniffing and turned around and hopped back to his corner.

The meeting went smoothly, and they were able to iron out most of the details of opening a trade route. She found that the woman was pleasant, with a sense of pride that Jai could appreciate.

“That’s a lovely dress,” Jai said as they stood. “where did you get it?”

“Oh thank you! I had it made for me by a local tailor.”

“Really? Can I have their information? I’d love to get something from them.”

“Sure!” she quickly pulled out a card and wrote down the information. “Her name is Shots, this is her address!”

“Thank you!” she smiled. “I’ll go take a look at her later!”

Jai waved goodbye to the woman as she exited her office.

“See,” she said turning back to Fox, “I was perfectly civil with her.”

Fox held up his hands in surrender.

“Alright, I will admit, you were civil,” Fox agreed.

Jai smiled as she sat down on the ground and tapped and Wolffe hopped over. She held out her hand and waited for him to lower his head.

“What else do I have to do today, Love?”

“I’m not your assistant, cyar’ika,” Fox said coming to sit next to her.

“Do you think I should get one?”

“Do you think you should?”

“They might be able to help me remember names.”

Fox chuckled.

“I don’t think you’ll ever be able to do that, cyare.”

“Ye of little faith!”

Fox smiled.

“Oh, I do have some news!”

“Yeah, what’s that?”

“Her Excellency’s made a new friend. His name is Lawrence Trafalgar.”

“I… I need more information, cyare. I don’t see how that is good news.”

“Ever since… the _Incident…_ Her Excellency hasn’t had much time to make friends. So the fact that she has any friends is cause for celebration. She might be our Empress, but she’s still only sixteen. Next year she will officially be crown Empress Artemisia, First of Her Name.”

“So… she’s not actually your Empress yet?”

“No, she is. She became our Empress the moment… She’s been our Empress for three years now. But she’s been in her minority, next year she’ll turn seventeen and be old enough to be crowned.”

“What’s a minority?”

“It refers to the period of time when a sovereign rule while she is legally a minor. Usually this time the Empire is ruled by a Regent, which is currently the Empress’s Uncles.”

“I see. It’s so different from the Republic.”

Jai nodded.

“In some ways. But we do have a Parliament that the members are elected to make policies. But the final say stands with Her Excellency. Like her decision to make me her Senator.”

Jai and Fox were walking through the Shopping District, trying to find the shop on the card.

“Here it is!” Jai exclaimed, grabbing Fox's hand, and dragging him to the shop.

“Hello!” Jai sang, bursting through the door, causing the woman behind the counter to jump.

“Hello,” she greeted.

“You make dresses, right?”

Fox groaned his head in his hand.

“Umm… yes…?” she answered almost like it was a trick question.

“The Senator of Batuu sent me here! I want to order a custom dress, please!”

She smiled and started moving things around the counter.

“You’re the one the Senator mentioned, right? Pots?”

“Shots.”

“Lots.”

“No, Shots.”

“Bots?”

“Shots.”

“Knots.”

“Shots.”

“Dots.”

“Shots.”

Fox covered Jai’s mouth.

“I’m going to stop you there. Ma’am, I would except that she’s going to get your name wrong, or else we will be here all night.”

Dots nodded, and Fox released Jai’s mouth.

“Rude.”

Fox rolled his eyes.

“What can I help you with Senator…?”

“Jai. Jai Yang!”

“Senator Yang.”

“Well, I’d like to order several new dresses! I can’t keep waiting for more to arrive from Yggdrasil.”

“How many is several?”

“Five!”

Pots eyes went as big as saucers.

“F-five! F-five dresses?”

“Yup!”

Lots scrambled to get out her datapad and mumbling incoherent things, before coming to stand in front of Jai.

“C-can I take your measurements?”

“Sure! Oh, and I’d like the dresses in black.”

“Black, of course!”

Cots took Jai to the back and began to take her measurements, while Jai chattered away. Once they were finished, Jai gave Locks her address to send the finished dresses to and waved goodbye.


	15. The Recording

Jai set her cup of tea down on the table. She woke up that morning with a bad feeling, and it had yet to go away. Something seemed wrong about today. She had told her clones about it, but there wasn’t much they could do about it. She had decided to work from home today.

“What do you think is wrong?” Thorn asked petting Wolffe.

“I wish I knew. I just know that something’s wrong. Maybe I should call Sigrún. See if anything has happened back home.”

She curled a lock of hair around her finger and pulled. She sat trying to figure out what it was that was troubling her so much, but she couldn’t pinpoint anything.

“Do you think it could be Chidori?” Fox asked.

“No. I know her presence. This isn’t it. Just… something isn’t right…”

It upset her, to not figure out what was wrong, but she had work to do. So she left the table and went to her room. Sitting down at her vanity, she picked up her hairbrush and began to brush her hair as Fox walked in after knocking.

“Cyare, is everything alright? Your kinda starting to worry me.”

“I’m fine but… I don’t know… just something is wrong. Something… with my sisters.”

“Do you think you of them is hurt?”

“I don’t think so… _Spirits_ I wish I could tell you.”

“Call. If it’s bothering you so much. I don’t like seeing you so worried.”

Jai looked over at her lover before nodding. Standing up, she finished dressing, wearing a simple black collared, short-sleeved, midi-length dress, she decided to forego any shoes.

Walking into her office, she started to dial Sigrún, but instead, she got all eight of her sisters.

Each of them gazed at one another, only Geirdiful looked like she knew what was going on.

“What’s going on?” Hildr asked, her blonde hair tied back in a bun.

“That’s what I would like to know!” exclaimed Kara, her black braids falling around her shoulders.

“Geirdiful, can you explain what’s going on?” Sigrún asked.

“I found something,” she said.

“As you have said. Many times. What exactly is it that you found?”

“It’ll be easier to show you,” Geirdiful said pressing a button.

In the center of the terminal showed an old recording, grainy, and they couldn’t make out the person talking, their voice was even distorted.

The sound of a door creaking open started the recording.

“It’s important to seize an opportunity before it slides through your wrenched fingers. The Nine have left their charges alone. This will be the perfect chance to execute our plan. You see, the past so often dies without passing on its bountiful secrets. But oh, Marie! The secrets you’ve left behind! How very interesting! Such knowledge! Such opportunity! The time draws near for a dark revival to come at last! Finally, I will have my revenge!”

Everyone stood there stunned as the recording ended. No one spoke for a very long time.

“Is… that…?” Rota was the first one to break the silence.

“Could it be?” Gunnr asked, clutching at her headscarf.

“That doesn’t seem possible. After all this time,” Olrun said.

“Do we finally have a lead?” Eir asked.

“It… seems possible… right?” Jai asked, and all eyes turned to Sigrún.

“I… I don’t know. We need to analyze this recording further. We need to clean up the image and the voice. If… I really don’t want to get anyone’s hope up. Geirdiful, I want this sent to every one of us,” Sigrún said.

Geirdiful nodded.

“I can’t believe it,” Jai muttered.

“Could we actually have a lead?” Rota asked.

“I need to go and inform Her Excellency,” Sigrún said shakily.

Then she disappeared.

“What do you think he meant by secrets?” Gunnr asked.

“I don’t know,” Olrun said.

“What secrets would Marie have had that would have gotten her and Shay killed?” Hildr asked.

But no one knew that the answer to that.

“I need to go,” Jai said, signing off.

Feeling also numb, she turned to Fox, who caught her before she could collapse. Fox slowly lowered them to the floor as the tears began to fall.


	16. Another Day Off

Jai still couldn’t believe that they had found that recording and that they might finally have a lead to finding Their Excellencies killers. Even in the week since the meeting about the recording, it still didn’t seem real. Though today was her day off and Fox was determined to keep her mind off business.

Jai was laying on the floor with Wolffe laying down next to her when Fox walked in. He smiled when he saw them.

“Hey, cyar’ika.”

“Hey, Love.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked coming to sit down next to her.

“Oh, nothing. Just been a bit distracted lately.”

“I know you’re still worried. But I was wondering if you could… I don’t know…”

“You want to take my mind off it, yes?”

“Yeah.”

“I’d love for you to take my mind off it. But I really don’t want to go out today.”

“I’d be fine with hanging out at home.”

Jai smiled up at her lover.

“Oh, I have an idea for today.”

“What’s that?’

“Do you wanna watch trash tv?”

Fox busted out laughing.

“Only if we order take out.”

Jai put a hand over her heart.

“You’re a man after my own heart!”

Then she pulled him down for a kiss.

She was about to get up, but that was when Wolffe decided he was going to lay on her chest. Jai sighed when Wolffe made himself comfortable.

“Well, I’m not going anywhere, anytime soon.”

Fox laughed.

“C’mon, Wolffe, time to get off Momma.”

Wolffe honked, and Fox scooched him off Jai’s chest.

Fox helped Jai up and pulled her into a hug.

“Jai… I… I’m so glad I got to meet you.”

Jai smiled and snuggled into her man.

“C’mon, let’s watch some tv and order some food.”

When they sat down on the couch, Wolffe hopped up and snuggled into Fox’s side.

“I’m so happy, Love.”

Fox smiled and pulled her further into his side.

“Tell me something,” Fox said a little while later.

“Hmm?”

“I want you to know more about your past.”

“Like what?”

“Tell me something good.”

Jai smiled.

“You know, I used to ask my Master the same thing.”

“Really?”

Jai nodded, her head moving against his shoulder.

“So, when I was little, I would _beg_ my Master for a pair of bumblebee tights.”

“Bumblebee tights?”

“Black and yellow stripes! I saw them once in a store window as we were passing, and I just fell in love with them.”

“Did you get your bumble bee tights?”

“I did! And I wore them _everywhere!_ To training, on missions, and even once in the bath!”

Fox laughed a good hearty laugh.

“Whatever happened to your bumblebee tights.”

“Oh, I outgrew them. And we could never find them in my size after. I don’t know if they make them in grown women sizes.”

“Strange.”

“But I loved those tights. I still have them back home.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I couldn’t even bring myself to get rid of them. So they’re in a box in the top of my closet.”

Fox smiled and kissed the top of her head.

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Tell me something good.”

Fox had to think for a moment, wracking his brain for something good.

“I don’t know. I don’t have many memories like that. The Kaminoans weren’t much for happy memories like that.”

“Surely there must be one or two?” Jai asked turning to face Fox.

Fox thought for a moment until a small smile played on his lips.

“Well, there was this one time when Cody, me, and Bly managed to pull a prank on the bounty hunter that was in charge of us.”

“Cody and Bly?”

“Cody in the Marshall Commander of the 212th and Bly in the Commander of the 327th.”

“The one that Eir was just assigned to?”

“The very one.”

“What about you and Wolffe? How did that rivalry start?”

Fox eyed Jai.

“And just how have you managed to remember his name?”

Jai pointed to the tiny bunny that Fox was currently petting.

“Right. Well, it was kinda stupid.”

“Tell me anyway.”

Fox rubbed the back of his neck.

“Fox, we’re already sleeping together. I think if I thought you were unworthy of my attention it would have been long before now.”

“Alright, I get your point.” Fox sighed. “We were both on mess duty when someone threw something (it was Wolffe) and we blamed each other, and grudge has been there ever since.”

Jai just rolled her eyes.

“Spirits, you sound like such children.”

“In my defense, we were.”

Jai started laughing.

“You are _so_ lucky I love you.”

They both froze.

“I-I-I,” Jai stuttered.

“I love you, too, cyar’ika.”


	17. Jedi Temple

Jai, Fox, and the Senator of Batuu were in Jai’s office talking about their new trading partnership when there was a knock on the door. Fox went to open the door to find Senator Amanda standing there, a smile on her face.

“Hello, I hope I’m interrupting anything,” she greeted.

“Not at all, Senator Amanda. We were discussing the finer points of our new trade deal before we go public.”

Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed _Vinur_ try to stifle a giggle.

Senator Amanda nodded.

“I had heard that Batuu and the Empire were forming an alliance. But don’t you think it would be a conflict of interest, with Batuu supporting the war?”

Jai shook her head.

“Not at all. I brought this up with Her Excellency, and she didn’t see anything wrong with it.”

Amanda nodded.

Jai went to open her mouth to say something else, but she never got the chance as she was summarily shoved out the window by an unseen force. One that had a firm grip on her middle.

 _“JAI!”_ her companions ran to the now broken window and gazed in terror after her.

Fox was issuing orders in a heartbeat, when, to their amazement, Jai began to fly back towards them, now with another woman, who looked like an older Jai (minus the silver hair), following her.

Fox started cursing, as the Senators' eyes were glued to the women flying around.

“Long time no see, eh, Sister?” Chidori mocked.

Jai said nothing, secretly glad she had decided to put pants on today.

“Didn’t get enough of a beating last time?”

Chidori frowned a vein in her forehead popping.

“I’ll take that as a no.”

Summoning a ball of magic energy, Jai hurled it at her sister. Who dodged out of the way. Then Chidori sent a bolt of lightning at Jai. Jai had none of her armor, so all she could do was run. Turning around, Jai headed in the opposite direction, hoping to lead Chidori away from her friends. She didn’t need to look behind her to know that Chidori was following her.

Jai could see the Jedi Temple in the distance, maybe if she could get there, the Jedi could help her. But then another bolt of lightning blasted past her, Jai zoomed in the other direction.

“You think the Jedi are going to help you?” Chidori screamed after her.

Jai stopped, but then she felt something hit her square in the back knocking the air from her lungs. Jai tumbled through the air nearly colliding with several speeders. Finally, only right before she was about to hit the ground was she able to reactivate the spell. In the distance, she could hear Chidori’s anguished scream.

Thankfully, her fall had brought her somewhat closer to the Jedi Temple. Jai took off in that direction, with Chidori trailing behind her. Thankfully, Chidori was a one-trick pony and only knew how to summon a bolt of lightning, which was easy enough to dodge.

Jai was almost to the Temple when Chidori shouted something that made Jai freeze in her tracks.

“Don’t you want to know who’s in that recording?”

Jai didn’t know if she wanted to believe Chidori or not. But she stopped and turned nonetheless, her eyes glowing a dangerous orange.

“What did you say?”

Chidori seemed to have realized saying this was a mistake, as she swallowed audibly and appeared nervous.

“You’re going to tell me exactly what you know about that recording.”

The air around them began to heat up as the two sisters stared each other down. Chidori was the first to crack, as it was becoming unbearably hot.

“The only way you’ll get anything from me is by catching me,” it didn’t sound as brave as Chidori wanted it to be.

“Oh, I’m counting on it.”

Then the air around them erupted into flames, as Gondul hurled spell after spell at Chidori. Never once letting up. When Chidori tried slipping past her, Gondul was having none of that and chased after her. She was _not_ going to let Chidori get away from her this time! Especially if she had information on that recording. Unfortunately, Chidori decided to head in the direction of the Jedi Temple. Having gotten confused in Gondul’s on slot of spells. When Chidori realized her mistake, she tried to turn around, Gondul was there to grab her by the throat and throw her into the nearest building, that being the Temple, then blast her with another spell, that sent her flying through the Temple.

Right in the middle of a bunch of Jedi, who were confused by Chidori’s sudden appearance, until Jai landed, huffing and puffing. Chidori had landed on her back and was struggling to get up. Jai walked over and put a foot on her chest and pressed down.

“You… are not going anywhere.”

Jai's hands glowed bright orange, and the air pulsed with magic energy.

“What’s going on here?” a tall man with dark skin approached them.

Jai turned her body to face him, keeping her foot on Chidori.

“This woman has been trying to kill for the past few months I’ve been in your Republic, Jedi.”

“There’s still time,” Chidori commented, which made Jai press down even more on her chest.

“I do believe you Jedi have the ability to place people under arrest?”

“That is correct.”

“Then I would like you to place this woman under arrest, please. And I want her escorted, _personally,_ to jail.”

The Jedi nodded and hauled Chidori away.

Outside the Jedi Temple, Fox and a few other Guard members were there to meet her, along with, much to her displeasure, the Chancellor. She had never liked him. There was something off about his aura. Like he was trying to hide something. Plus, he was always trying to be too friendly with her, and she hated the way he treated the clones. Like they were another droid army and not living, breathing people.

Fox came to check on her, acting stiffer than he ever did when they were alone, but she understood why.

“Are you alright, Senator?” he asked scanning her for injuries.

“I’m fine, Commander. I didn’t get hurt.”

“You’re bleeding, Senator,” he said touching the side of her head.

She hadn’t even realized she’d been hurt, or bleeding.

“I didn’t realize,” she said touching her head, as well.

“I’ll get the medic to look at you.”

Nothing other than the cut on her head was found.

“I’d like to go home now.”

She wanted to leave before she had to speak to the Chancellor, who was eyeing her like she was the greatest thing to have crossed his path.

Fox nodded and began to herd her into one of the transports.

“This isn’t over, Sister!” Chidori screamed.


	18. Blocked

Jai woke up with kisses being scattered around her back and neck, which made her smile. She refused to open her eyes, not wanting the moment to end. The bed felt so comfortable, and Fox’s lips on her felt great.

“Good morning, cyare,” Fox greeted, his voice still groggy from sleep, his lips moving against her skin. Then he started pressing open-mouthed kisses to her shoulder and moving her hair out of the way. His hand started to drift downwards when his commlink went off, causing them to groan.

Finally tearing her eyes open, she groaned at the name. It was the Captain Rex.

“How has he gotten your new number?” Jai groaned, putting her face down in the pillow.

“I don’t know, and I don’t think I want to find out.”

“This is what? The third time this week he’s interrupted us?”

“Something like that.”

“Maybe you should consider my offer of coming to live on Norma with me. Maybe then we’d get so sleep.”

“I just might take up that offer, at this rate.”

Fox left the bed, pulling on some pants and grabbing the commlink. The bed felt significantly colder without him in it. Jai watched him walk into the fresher, and Wolffe hopped up on the bed and curled up next to her head.

“I know, I don’t like it when Daddy has to answer calls too.”

Wolffe bumped his head against hers, which made her smile.

“You know, I think I might have to get up soon. The Duchess Satine is coming back today. You’ll finally get to meet her. But, I could have really used Fox right about now.”

It had been since before Chidori was arrested that they had slept together, and Jai was starting to feel really frustrated. She felt ready to rip the Captain’s head off. She just wanted some time with her lover. That’s all she wants.

Jai threw her covers off and left the comfort of their bed. Grumbling, she walked into her closet and grabbed one of the dresses Dots had made for her, then over to her dresser and grabbed a bra and some underwear. She put on her undergarments and a shirt, she walked into the kitchen.

One of her cookbooks flew from the shelves and landed in front of her. Groaning, she leaned against the counter, wanting nothing more than to be back in that bed, underneath Fox. She also felt ready to bang her head against the counter, or scream, or both.

The fresher door slammed shut, as Jai began to pull out the stuff for breakfast. Glancing over her shoulder she saw Fox running his fingers through his hair. She knew he was as frustrated as she was. Why was it so hard for them to have sex?

Fox came to stand next to her and rested his hands on the counter and his head slumped forward.

“What did Captain Irritation want?”

“The usual,” he said turning to lean against the counter, and staring unabashedly at her.

“Why not just give him what he wants, love? Maybe then we could have some alone time.”

“As tempting as that sounds, no.”

“Why not?” she all but cried. Jai was growing increasingly desperate as time went on.

Fox sighed, feeling her frustration.

“Don’t you think I’m just as frustrated as you?” his voice began to rise. “Believe me, if I could make Rex stop calling I would!”

“But you _can!”_ Breakfast lay forgotten as they continued to argue. “All you have to do is approve his transfer and then, _poof,_ no more calls.” She tried wrapping her arms around him, but he caught her arms in his hands.

“It’s not so simple, cyar’ika. Rex has some of the best combat experience out of all the GAR. Removing him from active duty would only hurt the Republic.”

Jai understood where he was coming from, she really did. But she also hadn’t come in what felt like forever. She rubbed her temples in frustration, as she walked in circles. They were both frustrated, not only from not having sex in forever but also from the fact that Fox might be getting a new assignment. With the capture of Chidori, it seemed like the threat to her life was gone. And the thought of not waking up next to Fox was becoming unbearable.

“Fox, I –”

But Fox had pushed Jai against the counter, slotting his knee in between her legs, and crashed his lips to hers. It felt good, having him crowd her like that. She started grinding herself against him, small noises escaping her when the doorbell rang. Jai could have screamed when Fox reluctantly left her.

Storming over to the door, she ripped it open and glared at the person on the other side.

“Someone better be dead or dying.”

Vinur stared at her confused.

“W-what?”

Jai knew it wasn’t the girl’s fault, but her timing was horrible. She felt her eye twitch with irritation, and let Vinur in. Jai knew that as soon as she got a piece of the man behind her, she would be fine. But the universe seemed against that idea.

“Did I interrupt something?” she asked.

“No,” said Fox.

“Yes,” said Jai.

Fox shot her a look, which she returned.

Vinur looked between the two, confused.

“Umm… are we still on for going to work together?”

“Yeah, just let me go get dressed,” and she trudged off to her room and slammed the door.

Jai emerged a few minutes later, fully dressed and looking very pissed.

“Let’s go.”

Jai sat at her desk, rereading the same line for what was likely the fifth time, not really taking anything in. She felt hot and uncomfortable, and all she could do was focus on was the unpleasant heat radiating from in between her legs.

“Fox,” she whined.

“No, Jai.”

“But why not? The door is locked, and I’ll be quiet, I promise.”

“That’s not the problem. There are cameras.”

Jai banged her head down on her desk, feeling like she was going to explode.

“There isn’t one in the fresher.”

Fox groaned.

“Jai you’re killing me. If I could take you on the desk I would, but I can’t.”

Jai whimpered and rubbed her legs together, trying to alleviate the discomfort. It didn’t help.

“Please! Fox, I’m dying here. Please.”

“Jai, please stop. I’m begging you. When we get home I will do whatever you want me to do to you, but please stop.”

“Anything?” she asked looking up at him.

He nodded, his expression hidden by his helmet.

She bit her lip thinking about it.

“Don’t say anything that is going through your head,” Fox warned her.

“You sure you don’t wanna know what I’m thinking?”

Fox cursed and turned his back on her.

“Fox,” she sang after a few minutes of silence, and enjoyed the way he tensed up, “where are the cameras?”

“Why?” he asked turning to look at her from over his shoulder.

“Just tell me,” she whined.

Fox sighed.

“If it’ll get you to stop then fine.”

He pointed them out, and Jai cast a spell to freeze them over.

“What did you do?” Fox asked suspiciously, as Jai stood and walked around her desk to stand in front of Fox.

“I froze the cameras,” she smiled.

Fox sighed.

“Jai, I know you’re desperate, so am I, but you can’t just freeze the cameras.”

“Fox, please! It won’t take long, please!”

“How romantic.”

She pouted.

“No, Jai. When we get home.”

But Jai was tired of arguing, and ripped his helmet off, threw it to the floor, and pulled him down to her. Fox groaned into her, as she pushed him down into one of her chairs and straddled his lap. His hands came to rest on her hips, as they molded into each other.

“Fox, please…” she murmured against his lips.

He seemed like he was about to agree when there was a knock on the door.

“Motherfucker!” Jai cursed under her breath as she extracted herself from Fox. “Why does this keep happening.

Walking as calmly as she could to the door as Fox picked his helmet back up and put it on. Opening the door she found several Senate Guards waiting outside her door.

“Can I help you?”

“We noticed your security cameras were turned off. Did you know anything about that?”

She couldn’t stand the Blue Guards gaudy headdresses, also she was angry that she had been so close _yet again,_ and they had interrupted her.

“No. Maybe it was something on your end,” said Jai, slamming the door in their face, and then she rounded on Fox. “When we get home,” her voice shaking, “you are turning off your commlink, and then you are going to fuck my brains out, do you understand!?”

He nodded.

“Good! Cause I can’t take this anymore. I am losing my mind!”

Fox just nodded again.

Jai stormed back over to her desk and tried to get her work done as quickly as she could. By the time she was finished, she was nearly vibrating with anticipation. She all but dragged Fox back to their home.

When they got home, Jai locked the door, and turned off her own commlink, while Fox took off his helmet and turned off the cursed commlink. Then Jai dragged him into the bedroom.


	19. Confessions

Jai woke up feeling the warmth on her back and her front. At her back was Fox, who was holding her close to his chest, and Wolffe was snuggled into the crook of her stomach. She smiled, not wanting the moment to end. She wanted to stay here for the rest of the day. But, then her commlink, not Fox’s, began to ring.

There was a collected groan from the couple, but when she saw the name, she bolted upright. It was Sigrún. Jai jumped out of bed and threw on a shirt, before answering, not bothering to hide Fox and Wolffe from view.

“Hello, Sigrún,” she said breathlessly, smoothing her hair down.

Sigrún gave her a knowing look, a smirk playing on her lips. Her own hair pulled back in a ponytail and wearing a gray halter top and pants.

“Not interrupting anything am I?”

“No ma’am! I just woke up.”

Sigrún nodded, her smirk turning into a wide grin, her wings ruffling before settling back down.

“Mmmm…” she leans over to look over Jai’s shoulder, “good morning, Commander,” she waved.

Fox sighed and waved back, keeping the covers over his waist.

Sigrún chuckled, at Jai’s horrified expression.

“Calm down, Gondul. I’m in no position to criticize you. Remember, I have two sons with different fathers. Besides, what do I care about the laws of the Republic.”

Jai heard Fox sigh in relief.

“Also, and just a little advice,” she gestured to her neck, “you might want to cover those up.”

Jai clapped a hand to her neck, feeling unbelievably embarrassed.

“Ummm… You wanted to talk to me about something?”

Sigrún huffed a laugh, smiling at Jai.

“Yes, we’ve made some headway on the recording. Now don’t get too excited,” she added quickly seeing Jai’s expression. “there’s not much to report, but I just wanted to get you in the loop.”

“What have you found? If you don’t mind my asking.”

“We’ve managed to clear up the audio some…” Sigrún trailed off, lost in thought.

“What’s wrong?”

“Something about the voice just sounds very familiar.”

“Do you know from where?”

“No. Not yet.”

Jai nodded.

There was the sound of something breaking, followed by shouting. Sigrún turned to look over her shoulder, before sighing, her wings relaxing to the floor.

“Duty calls.”

“Rowdy students?”

“More like rowdy sons.”

Jai smiled as Sigrún signed off.

Jai set the commlink back on the side table and crawled back into bed and nestled back into Fox’s side. Who wrapped his arm around her, and Wolffe hopped in between them.

“I love this, Fox. I never want this to end.”

Fox smiled and placed a kiss on her head.

“Fox I… I’m so glad I met you.”

“I’m glad I met you too.”

Jai didn’t want to leave the bed. She knew if she did, then she would have to face the day.

“I don’t want to go talk to Chidori in prison,” she mumbled into his neck.

Fox rubbed her back and held her closer.

“I’ll be right there, cyar’ika.”

“Please be careful, Love. I don’t want her getting any ideas. Your Chancellor won’t be there will he?”

“No, I don’t think so, why?”

“I don’t like him. There’s something off about him.”

Fox didn’t respond, she knew this was a sore subject for them both. Fox was too loyal to the Republic to see her concern.

“Isn’t this the same prison that One the Hutt is at?”

“Ziro, and yes.”

She started drawing patterns on his chest, paying special attention to the dark bruises and bite marks she had left from the night before.

“I just want this transfer to be over with. I don’t see why I have to go and talk to her.”

“Because she asked for it, cyare.”

“And she also tried to kill me. Several times I might add.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“What did she do to make you hate her so much?”

Jai sighed and ran her fingers through her hair and sat up.

“Alright, I’ll tell you. But not over an empty stomach. It’s your turn to make breakfast.”

Fox nodded and threw off the covers and stood, before throwing on a pair of pants.

“Have you ever thought about getting normal clothes?”

“What do you mean?”

“All you have is your armor, fatigues, and dress uniform.”

“I have my blacks too.”

“That you wear under your armor. Fox, you should get some more clothes that you could wear around the house.”

“You mean you want me to stay after your detail is over.”

Jai looked at Fox like he was crazy.

“I mean yeah. I want you to stay. This is your home if you want it to be. I want you to be here. I love you!”

Fox looked as if he was going to cry.

“You love me?”

“Yes, you idiot! I love you so much. I want you here with me,” she huffed, “I thought that was obvious. Wasn’t it?’

Fox shrugged.

“I never really know with senators.”

“Wait… have you slept with other senators?” Jai asked, feeling a pang of jealousy, and narrowing her eyes at him.

“What? No! It’s just…” he rubbed the back of his neck, “they say one thing and usually mean something else.”

“Do you think I’m like that?” she asked slowly.

“What? No! I wouldn’t have slept with you otherwise.”

“I do love you, Fox. Do you love me?” she asked, the hope evident in her voice, as she gazed at her nails.

Fox came around the side of the bed and crushed her to him.

“Yes, I love you, Jai.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Jai placed her hands on the side of his face and pulled him down to her and kissed him.

“I love you, Fox.”

“I love you, Jai.”

They both smiled at each other.


	20. Prison Visit

Fox set the food on the table while Jai fed Wolffe his normal breakfast of hay and blueberries. Jai petted his head and sat at the table next to Fox.

“So you told me you would tell me about the reason why you hate Chidori.”

Jai took a deep breath and before starting.

“The day my Master died, we were out hunting, the village close to the fortress where we lived was being terrorized by Shades, they’re the creatures that inhabit Norma. So we were searching the forests that surround the village when we were ambushed… but not by any Shades…” Jai’s voice broke and tears ran down her cheeks. Fox pulled her to his side and kissed her temple. “It all happened so fast… the next thing I know, my Master is covered in blood and Chidori is standing over her, laughing.”

“I’m so sorry.”

Jai dried her eyes and took a deep breath.

“That’s why I hate her. Our parents died when we were young, and Master Gondul was like a mother to me. And, and, and Chidori took that from me,” she said, burst into tears.

Fox pulled Jai into his lap and slowly rocked her, waiting patiently for her to calm down.

“I don’t want to go!” she cried. “Because every time I see her, all I can think about how she killed my master!”

“I know, cyar’ika, I know,” he said gently.

She curled into him, as Fox ran his fingers through her silver hair. It took a few minutes before Jai started to calm down.

“I’m sorry, Fox.”

“Don’t be.”

Jai took a deep breath before peeling herself away from Fox.

“I think I’m ready to get dressed now.”

“No, I think you need to eat some more, cyare.” There was a soft honk from Wolffe’s food bowl. “See, even Wolffe agrees that you need to eat more.”

She chuckled a little.

About an hour later, Jai was finished getting dressed, and Fox was putting on his helmet.

“Ready, cyare?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

Fox and Jai made their way out of the apartment, with Wolffe following them. When they saw him following them, Jai bent down and picked him up, and scratched his head.

“No, you can’t come with us.”

Wolffe turned his head away while Jai set him down on the couch. Jai waved goodbye to Wolffe as they left, and he didn’t seem too happy about being left at home.

The drive to the prison left like an eternity. Jai felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest, and she had a death grip on Fox’s hand.

“Umm… I’ll be getting you a key to the apartment soon.”

Fox nodded.

Jai sighed, and Fox squeezed her hand.

They arrived sooner than Jai would have liked, she gazed up at the imposing building, with clones stationed all around the entrance.

“Are all these your men?”

“Yes.”

She took a deep breath.

“Jai,” Fox put a gentle hand on her arm, “it’s going to be all right.”

“I know. Just stay close, please?”

“I will.”

Jai got out of the speeder and smoothed down her dress. She had wanted to come in her armor, but Fox had convinced her overwise. But she did have a knife strapped to her hip. Once Fox stepped out, all the clones straightened up and saluted him. Fox started walking in front of her, as someone shouted for the doors to open. She watched as the doors to the prison opened slowly and tried to swallow the lump forming in her throat. Jai knew that she couldn’t do anything with Fox out in the open, but she really wanted to hold his hand.

Fox escorted her to an interview room. Two more clones joined them, and two more came in, dragging Chidori in, and sat her down on the opposite side of the table. Jai stood next to Fox and glared at her sister.

Chidori grinned at her. They had her in a straight jacket.

“Hello, Sister. Sorry I didn’t get all dolled up for you.”

The two clones that had brought her in had their blasters trained on her.

“Why did you want to speak to me?”

“Come now, Jai! I want a chance to talk to you.”

“You said you knew something about Their Excellencies deaths?”

“I might,” she sang.

Jai narrowed her eyes at her.

“I’m not in the mood for games, Chidori.”

There were several things around the room that started rattling.

“Oh!” Chidori’s eyes lit up as she gazed around the room. Then she started cackling.

“Chidori if you don’t answer me, then I’m leaving.”

Chidori groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Fine. Way to ruin all my fun.”

“What do you know about Their Excellencies deaths?” Jai demanded again, her eyes beginning to glow orange.

Chidori suddenly looked very nervous and shifted in her seat.

“I didn’t join from the beginning. But I do know that they want to get rid of you Nine before going after the rest of the Imperial family.”

“Why?”

“Whoever planned all this, hates the Imperial family.”

“Do you know who it is?”

“I’m not that high up. Despite what you think.”

Jai narrowed her eyes again.

“What else can you tell me? Anything useful?”

“I can tell you who hired me.”

“And who would that be?”

Chidori gazed nervously around at the clones around her, before speaking to her in their native language.

“ _The Count Dooku. He’s been in contact with the leader of the conspiracy, and he knew I was your sister and hired me.”_

Jai gazed at her, before nodded.

“Take her away,” she told the clones.

“What did she say?” Fox asked.

“Not here,” she whispered. “Later. I need to tell Sigrún and Her Excellency.”


	21. Life Without Fox

Jai sat at her desk, typing away on her desk, finalizing the details of Chidori’s transfer back to Norma, to the Stronghold. Their highest security prison. She wanted Fox here with her, but he had been reassigned back to his old assignment before she had come along. And she missed his constant presence. Not that she needed him around all the time, she just missed his comforting presence.

She puffed, feeling frustrated. Fox had stayed away from her and Wolffe for the past week, which had left her feeling so alone and slightly depressed. Even though Fox had explained that he would do this so no one would ask unnecessary questions.

She finished the transfer and sent it to all the necessary personnel. Then leaned forward and rested her head on her hands. She huffed again. Gazing down at the new dress she had gotten from Dots. It was a simple red bustier top floor-length dress. She had gotten it especially for Fox. But he hadn’t been around to see it.

There was a knock on the door, and Jai sat up straight, maybe it was Fox! She smoothed out her dress, and pulled up her top, wanting to bring attention to her chest if it was Fox.

“Come in.”

Disappointedly, it wasn’t Fox, it was a courier. Jai felt herself wilt. She was hoping so badly that she wanted anyone knocking to be Fox. She missed him so much.

“Hello, Senator Yang. I have a package for you.”

“Who’s it from?”

“It doesn’t have a name.”

Jai just sighed and held out her hand.

The boy came and handed her the small package, that was wrapped in brown paper and string. She waved him away and waited for him to leave before untying the package. Putting the string to the side and tore the paper apart. It was a small box, taking the lid off, she gasped when she saw the small, silver, origami fox necklace. That was when she noticed that there was a note underneath the necklace.

_Dear, cyar’ika_

_I hope this finds you well. I know I haven’t been by to see you or Wolffe._

_I miss you both._

_I won’t be able to see you for a little while longer. I hope to be able to see you next week sometime._

_Until then, I found this in a store window and thought of you. I hope you like it._

_Remember, I love you._

_Always,_

_Fox_

Jai had finished reading the note for the third time, and she held it close to her heart. Then she set the note aside and put on her necklace. She smiled as she gazed down at it. There was a soft honking, and Jai went over to Wolffe and showed him the new necklace.

“What do you think, Wolffe?”

He sniffed the swinging jewelry, before sneezing and hopping away.

She sighed as she gazed at the jewelry in the mirror. Then she started frowning. This meant she would have to go longer without seeing Fox. At least another week. She so badly wanted to see him.

Picking up Wolffe, she made her way to Vinur’s office. She knocked before opening the door.

“Hello, I hope I’m not interrupting.”

“No, not at all. Please come in, Jai.”

Jai sat Wolffe down, who hopped underneath one of Vinur’s chairs. Jai sat down in the opposite chair.

“That’s new,” Vinur said, nodding at the dress. “Don’t you usually wear black?”

“I wanted something different.”

“You look like you’re trying to impress someone,” Vinur said nonchalantly, turning back to her computer. Missing Jai’s panicked face.

“Um… no. Just a new dress I got from Dots.”

Vinur smiled.

“Do you want to come over tonight? I’ll make dinner.”

Vinur paused, gazing at her, before shrugging.

“Sure, why not.”

Jai grinned at her, before going over and hugging her.

“What’s gotten into you?”

“Just a little lonely, I guess,” Jai said, sitting back down in her chair. “It’s so lonely without the Commander constantly being around.”

Vinur gave her a sympathetic smile.

“I do understand that. I’d love to come over for dinner.”

Jai clapped her hand in joy.

“Oh yay! I was thinking of a lemon rosemary salmon recipe I found. I’ve read that salmon is really good to eat right now. You do like salmon right?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Oh good!”

A few hours later, Jai stood in front of her oven, preheating it for the salmon. Taking all the lessons she had had from Ondina to use for once. She took her knife and lemon and began slicing them into thin slices and placed half the slices onto the pan. Then she placed two sprigs of rosemary on top of the lemon, then the salmon fillets on top of the lemon slices and rosemary. She then sprinkled salt on top of the fillets, then placed a final layer of rosemary and the remaining lemon slices. And finally drizzled a tablespoon of olive oil on top of everything.

There was a knock on the door, and Jai happily went to answer it. Vinur was standing there, and Jai pulled her in for a hug.

“Perfect timing! I was just about to put the fillets in.”

Vinur smiled at her and came to sit at Jai's kitchen table, as she put the fillets in the oven.

“So, tell me,” Vinur said, turning to her, “How does it feel not having the Commander around you anymore. You mentioned you were lonely.”

Jai took a deep drink from her glass of wine.

“I guess I miss him,” she said choosing her words carefully. “I guess with having him around so much, I miss his presence. What about you? Surely you must miss the clones you were with.”

“I do.”

The timer for the fillets went off before they could finish this conversation. The rest of the night, they spent talking about their respective homes and their similarities and differences. It got so late that Vinur decided to spend the night at Jai’s.


	22. Nightmares

Jai couldn’t settle, constantly tossing and turning as unsettling images ran through her head. The clones storming the Jedi Temple, a man in all black leading them, all the Jedi dying, Fox’s neck being snapped. Jai woke with a start, panting, covered in sweat. Her bed was empty of Fox’s presence, and that made her dive for her commlink. She knew it was late, she knew he would be mad if she woke him, but Jai found his CC number and started dialing. She waited impatiently as it rang, beginning to walk in circles. It felt like an eternity before he picked up.

“Hello?” his voice was groggy from sleep.

“Fox!” Jai said relieved. “You’re alright!”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he said, slightly annoyed.

Fox never liked being woken up.

“Umm…” Jai started feeling a bit silly, getting so worked up over a dream.

“Jai, what’s wrong? I know you didn’t call me in the middle of the night for nothing.”

“I just… Ummm… had a bad dream, is all.”

“About what?”

“You.”

“Me? What did I do?”

“Nothing. But I saw –,” she couldn’t finish. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes and a lump forming in her throat. Clearing her throat, she tried again. “I saw you dying, Fox. You, and the Jedi.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t explain it, but do you think you could come over?”

There was a long pause before Fox spoke again.

“Give me about twenty minutes.”

“Okay.”

Fox hung up and Jai went into her kitchen and made herself a cup of tea and sat at her kitchen table to wait. True to his word, twenty minutes later, Fox was unlocking the door. Jai sprinted to the door before he could open it, and pulled him in. Crushing him in a hug.

“I’ve missed you,” she whispered.

“I missed you, too,” he said, stroking her hair.

“Why did you stay away so long?” she asked, burying her head in his chest armor.

“I would have, but the Chancellor has barely left me alone since I was taken off your detail. I didn’t want to take a chance of him finding out.”

Jai frowned and snuggled closer to Fox. Wishing more than anything that they could be a normal couple, and they didn’t need this secrecy.

“I missed you,” she said again.

“I missed you, too,” Fox said, pulling away from her, holding her gently by the shoulders. “Now, it’s one in the morning, I know you have a busy day in the morning. Tell me what’s bothering you.”

Jai did her best trying to recount all that she had seen, but it was slowly turning fuzzy, the one thing that remained crisp and clear was the image of Fox’s neck being snapped by invisible hands. When she came to that part, Jai broke down into tears, and Fox pulled her into his lap.

“It was horrible, Fox. It all seemed so real!”

“I’m sorry, Jai.”

Fox stood and pulled Jai into the bedroom and began divesting himself of his armor. Then he pulled her into the bed with him and pulled Jai into his side as Wolffe hopped up onto the bed. Jai closed her eyes, feeling sleep come back over her as Fox wrapped his arms around her.

Jai woke up to an empty bed, the smell of cooking potatoes, sausages, and caff filling her senses. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she sat up as Fox came in. He seemed surprised to find her awake.

“I didn’t wake you did I?”

“No. I just woke up.”

Fox smiled and sat down next to her, the bed sagging as he sat.

“Did you sleep better?”

Jai nodded and leaned her head against his shoulder.

“I hope you don’t mind that I used one of your cookbooks.”

“I don’t.”

Fox gave her a gentle smile. Then stood and held out his hand, which she took. Fox lead her into the kitchen where he had made her cheesy sausage potatoes. Jai didn’t know how she could get so lucky.

“Will you start coming over more often?”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Thank you.”


	23. Death

Chidori was dead.

Jai sat at her desk, not really taking much in, still seething from the events that had happened earlier that day. She had woken up to the news that there had been a riot in the prison where Chidori was being held, and during the chaos, someone found Chidori dead. So any useful information she had died with her. Jai was furious. Nothing Fox or Vinur said or did could improve her mood.

She was furious.

Vinur sat nervously across from her, fidgeting with her dress, and constantly shifting in her seat, too nervous to speak.

“Umm…” Vinur tried again.

Jai made a grunt, showing that she was listening.

“Would you what to get something to eat?”

Her gaze flickered from the video footage on her screen to her friend.

“No. Thank you. Please don’t feel the need to stay here. I need to stay here.”

“No, I don’t mind.”

Jai sighed, seeing no reason to argue with the notoriously stubborn woman, and transferred the footage to her CCTV screen.

“This isn’t pretty, Vinur.”

“I can handle it.”

“Very well,” she breathed and pressed play.

“Shouldn’t the Coruscant Guard be going over this?”

“They are. But I asked Commander Fox if I could have a copy of the footage.”

“And how did you manage that?”

“I have my ways.” There was no humor or charm behind her comment, all of her usual humor was gone.

They watched as the riot started when a fight broke out among the inmates. Jai gazed at the image of Chidori, who sat in the corner watching as the fight continued to escalate. The clone guards did their best to control the fighting, but it just continued to grow out of control. She watched as Chidori continued to eat like nothing was amiss. Jai zoomed in on Chidori as someone approached her, never once turning to face the cameras.

 _They know where the cameras are and have made sure not to be seen._ Jai thought. But they only spoke, Chidori seeming bored with the man and eventually waved the man away and continued to watch the riot.

 _What are you planning?_ Then Chidori twitched, her eyes going wide and slumped forward onto the table.

“What just happened?” Vinur asked, sounding as surprised as Jia felt.

“I don’t know,” Jai said, rewinding the footage, and zooming in farther.

They rewatched the footage, but still found nothing.

“Try a different angle.”

They did but still found nothing. Jai was starting to get angry. She tried another angle, but still, there was no evidence of what could have happened to her. Several of her things began to rattle and shake as she grew angrier.

“Jai, I think you need to calm down,” Vinur said nervously.

“ _No!”_ Jai screamed, standing, and tipping her desk over in her anger.

Vinur gasped and backed away from her seething friend. Suddenly feeling afraid of her friend. Jai seemed to realize what she had done and seemed to calm down.

“I’m sorry, Vinur. I didn’t mean to lose my temper,” she said, picking up her desk and righting it.

Vinur said nothing but wrapped her arms protectively around her middle.

“Vinur,” Jai said taking a step forward, before stopping. Seeing the scared look on her friend’s face, made her feel pathetic and made her question why she lost her temper.

“I’m sorry. If you want to go, I understand.”

“Jai, I understand why you're angry. But you need to keep calm. The Coruscant Guard will figure out what happened.”

“That’s not the only reason why I’m angry.”

“What do you mean?”

“Chidori had information on the deaths of Their Excellencies Marie and Shay Shelby. She might have been able to help us figure out who ordered their deaths.”

“Oh.”

Jai turned and stared at the image of Chidori’s surprised face, her fists clenching. What had happened? How did she die, and why.


	24. Archives

It was early when Jai received the call from Geirdiful. Almost too early, as the sun was just starting to rise if it hadn’t been for yet another call from Captain Irritation, she, Fox, and Wolffe would have still been asleep in bed.

“Surprised you’re awake,” Geirdiful’s bored expression greeted her. Geir played with one of her curls. Pulling on it, letting go, and watching it bounce back. An old habit of hers whenever she grew bored.

“And as such,” Jai said, pouring her a cup of caff, “is there a reason you called so early?”

“Yeah, do you think you can get into the Jedi Archives?” Geir asked so nonchalantly.

Jai gasped in surprise, which was unfortunate, as she had just taken a drink of her caff. Causing it to be sucked down her airways and made her choke. Coughing heavily, she set her cup aside and tried desperately to get her breathing under control.

“Geir,” she coughed, “that’s not an easy thing to ask. The Jedi don’t just let anyone look at the Archives. You have to request it.”

“Then request it.”

Jai rolled her eyes. This was just like Geir, always so impatient.

“It’s not so simple. I need a reason to put in a request to view the Archives. So, why do I even need to excess the Archives in the first place?”

“I have a theory that there might be a copy of the Recording in the Archives.”

Jai gazed at her sister dubiously.

“That’s a pretty big theory. Are you saying that the Jedi might have something to do with Their Excellencies deaths?”

“What? No! What I’m saying is that the Jedi have a large collection of knowledge and might have a copy of the Recording and not know it.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Fox relax at this clarification.

“Ugh… Sister, I’ve been here too long. The Count never lets me have a moment to myself! I can’t ever get anything done! You have it so easy! And you got to meet the love of your life, so that’s a bonus.”

This time it was Fox who choked on his caff.

“Yeah, that’s right! I can see you!”

“Hello, Geirdiful,” Fox greeted.

Geir pulled on her curls and watched it bounce back.

“Just try and get into the Archives and see if they have a copy of the Recording.”

“I will do my best, Sister.”

“Thank you.”

Geir turned to gaze over her shoulder before turning back with a scowl.

“I have to go. I’ll talk to you later.”

With that Geirdiful ended the call. Jai turned to Fox.

“Do you think the Jedi would allow me access to the Archives?”

“It’s possible.”

“I’ll put in the request right now. Could you make breakfast?”

Fox nodded and began pulling out ingredients.

Going into her home office, Jai began typing out the request and explained the situation. Reading over the request for the fourth time, biting her nail, she pressed send. Hoping against hope that her request would get approved.

Turning around, she found that she was not alone in her office. Perched on his hind legs in the middle of the room was her baby, Wolffe.

“Hello there,” she cooed.

Wolffe scrunched his nose, and honked quietly, which made Jai smile. Going up to him, she bent down and picked him up, kissing his little head. Wolffe turned and started grooming her neck. It made her giggle.

Walking into the kitchen, she set Wolffe down and walked up to Fox, standing on her tiptoes, and planting a kiss on his cheek.

Jai marveled at the building around her. She still couldn’t believe how fast her request had been approved. It was incredible. So much knowledge and books all in the same place. She wondered if the original copies of the Great Invasion. But that wasn’t the reason why she was here. She was here to see if the Archives had a copy of the Recording. As she was marveling around the room, an old woman approached her with a gentle smile.

“Hello, dear. How can I help you?” she asked.

Jai smiled back at her.

“I’m here to see if you have an original copy of this recording,” she said, handing over the disk to the woman.

“Hm, let’s take a look.”

The woman lead her over to one of the terminals and inserted it. The woman and Jai watched the recording together, and once the recording was finished, the woman turned to Jai with a perplexed expression.

“How very curious. If you’ll give me a moment I’ll go look through the Archives to see if we have the original copy.”

Jai nodded and thanked her.

She watched the woman walk off and took a seat by the terminal to wait for the woman.

“Senator Yang?” a familiar voice called her.

Turning she found Master Kenobi there, several books in his hand.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to see if your Archives have a copy of the Recording in its original form.”

Kenobi nodded, coming to stand next to her.

“How are things going for you?” he asked.

“Oh, they are going wonderful. How is the war going?”

Kenobi sighed.

“Well enough. Right now on a bit of a reprieve. Going to teach some of the younglings today.”

“Oh, that sounds wonderful,” it made Jai think about what it would be like to have children. She hoped that whenever that happened, Fox would be the father.

Kenobi smiled, probably having sensed what she was thinking about.

“Children are a delight. And I think you would make a wonderful mother. But don’t get too ahead of yourself. You both are still young. Enjoy your time with each other.”

Jai smiled at the older man.

“Believe me, I plan on taking my time with him.”

Kenobi grinned and squeezed her shoulder.

“I must go. The younglings won’t teach themselves.”

Jai chuckled and waved goodbye to the Jedi Master. Just as the old woman came back. Jai stood, hoping that she came with good news, but the woman’s expression said otherwise.

“I’m sorry my dear, but I’m afraid I do not have a copy of your recording.”

Jai wilted. She so desperately wanted to put the mystery of the recording to rest. She thought that the Jedi Archives would have the answers. But it seemed that even the Jedi couldn’t help them. She thanked the woman and left the Archives, feeling dejected.


	25. Rocstoll Meeting

Jai, along with her sisters, watched as Sigrún paced back and forth, her wings ruffled in agitation. No one spoke, everyone was too nervous to speak. After Sigrún had received news that the Jedi Archives had no original copy of the Recording, she had commanded Geir to double down on her search of the Separatist Archives.

But that wasn’t the only bit of unsettling news that had greeted them at the start of this meeting. Rota and Gunnr informed them of rumors of a possible invasion by the Separatist. This surprised Sigrún and Geir the most. As Geir had no knowledge of any possible invasion.

“This makes no sense,” Sigrún finally said, stopping in front of them and resting her hands on the terminal. “We’ve done nothing to provoke an invasion from the Separatists. Why would they suddenly want to invade us?”

“I don’t know, my Lady,” Geir admitted. “This is the first I am hearing of it.”

“Rota! Gunnr!” Both women snapped to attention at the sound of their names. “How did you come by this information?”

“One of my little birds, my Lady,” Rota replied.

“I discovered it when I was repairing an old radio, my Lady.”

Sigrún began tapping her ring finger against the terminal. A nervous habit she had from childhood.

“I don’t like this. First, this mystery recording now rumors of invasion. This all seems… questionable.”

“How so, my Lady?”

“I’m not sure. All I know is that whoever is behind this is wanting to drag us into the War.”

“A war that Her Excellency has been adamant about us not being apart of the war,” Gunnr said. “No offense to any of you,” she added to the ones that were a part of the war.

“None taken,” they replied.

“Hm… It feels almost like we're chess pieces being moved around the board against our will,” Sigrún mumbled to herself, almost not aware that she had said it out loud.

“What do you mean, my Lady?” Hildr asked.

Sigrún seemed to realize that she had spoken aloud and that everyone was staring at her.

“I’m not sure myself if I’m honest. I might send more of you out into the Republic and Confederacy if this issue is not settled soon.”

The others exchanged concern looks.

“Are you sure that’s wise, Sigrún?” Jai asked. “We’re already stretched thin enough as it is. And you can’t protest Yggdrasil all on your own.”

“Yes I know,” she sighed. “But something just doesn’t seem right.”

“With what?” Olrun asked.

“With all of this,” Sigrún sighed and rubbed her temples. “Maybe I’m just reading too much into this and there really isn’t anything there.”

“Have the boys been keeping you up again?” Eir asked.

Sigrún groaned.

“Is it that obvious?” Eir held up her index and thumb and made them close together. “A little bit, yeah.”

Sigrún groaned again, putting her head down, before popping back up.

“I think I might request assistance from the Republic in investigating these matters, Olrun.” Eir protested Sigrún ignored her, “do you think you can find someone who can help me?”

“I can try. But wouldn’t Gondul be better suited for something like that? She is the senator after all.”

Sigrún shook her head.

“You and Eir have a military connection. Which is what I need.”

Olrun nodded.

“I see, I will certainly try my best to find what you need, my Lady.”

“Thank you, Olrun. Well,” Sigrún said straightening up. “I think that concluded business for today. May the Force be with you.”

“May the Force be with you.”

Letting her shoulders slump, yawn, Jai made her way into the living room, where Fox and Wolffe waited for her. Fox sat on the floor rolling a ball between him and Wolffe, who would headbutt it back to Fox. The whole scene made Jai smile, as she crawled onto the couch behind Fox and started carding her fingers through his hair.

“Just…” she yawned, “give me a minute and I can make dinner.”

“I can do that, cyare.”

“But you made breakfast.”

“Cyar’ika, you’re exhausted. Let me make it tomorrow. Deal?”

It took Jai awhile before she replied. It took so long that Fox thought she might have fallen asleep, her fingers having stilled in his hair. But after a few minutes, she very quietly said, “Deal.”

Fox removed her hand from his hair and stood, Wolffe, jumping up on the couch and curled into her side. Jai grinned sleepily and stroked his fuzzy little head.

Jai would’ve fallen asleep if it weren’t for Fox talking to her to keep her awake. He told her about his day ad the latest gossip from the senators. Jai had learned early on that the Senators like to gossip in front of the clones, pretending instead that they were statues. Jai, despite how rude it was, found this to be an endless source of entertainment. She smiled as she listened to his stories, as Wolffe began to groom her. She prayed to the Malahari that she could stay this happy.


	26. Revelations

Jai and Vinur sat in the latter’s living room, Jai enjoying a nice glass of wine, and Vinur looking on with envy. She had tried convincing Jai that having one glass wouldn’t hurt, but Jai wasn’t having it. Jai had enlisted the help of Eir with Vinur’s pregnancy, trusting Eir’s discretion. She had given her friend Eir’s number so she could call with any questions or concerns.

“I read that having one glass doesn’t hurt,” Vinur tried to reason.

“And I read that one in four women have a tendency to over drink when stressed,” Jai countered.

Vinur pouted and folded her arms.

“Can we at least order takeout?”

Jai thought about it for a second, realizing that she did not feel like cooking and agreed. They called in food, and waited, though they didn’t have to wait very long. When the doorbell rang, Jai got up and walked to the door. She took the food and went back to the living room, moving the wine glass out of Vinur’s reach, arching an eyebrow at her. Vinur shrugged.

“Can’t blame me for that.”

“Actually, I can. Alcohol isn’t good for babies.”

Vinur frowned.

As Jai unpacked the food, Vinur reached for her own non-alcoholic drink, before asking, “So you were telling about the latest meeting between you and the Rocstóll?”

“Yes, apparently there are rumors that the Separatists might invade Yggdrasil.”

Vinur choked on her drink.

“ _What?_ ” she coughed. “Why would the Separatists want to invade the Empire?”

“I don’t know I wish I did. If they do, I will have to leave.”

“Why? You’re a senator!”

“I’m also a member of the Rocstóll. My first and foremost duty is to protect my people.”

“What is the Rocstóll like?”

“A lot like your Jedi if I’m honest. The Nine are the leaders of the Rocstóll. We choose students who we train to eventually take our place, and we are led by our Queen, Sigrún.”

“Are you only made of the Nine?”

“No. We have regular members called Keepers.”

“Do you have a student?”

“No. I’m much too young.”

“But what happens if…”

“If I die? Then the Nine would vote on my successor.”

Vinur nodded.

“This threat of invasion troubles me. We have done all we can to stay out of the war. It was Her Excellency, and the peoples express wishes to stay out of it. I don’t know what we’ll do if we are invaded.”

“But wouldn’t be self-defense if you are invaded?”

“Yes it would, but…”

Jai sighed, not really knowing what to say or do. “Our last major war was two thousand years ago. And that was when the Hutts tried conquering us. And these Separatists aren’t trying to go planet-to-planet. No, they want to go straight for the capital.”

“Is that even possible?”

“Theoretically, yes. But it’s only been done once.”

“When was that?”

“About ten thousand years ago. Right before the creation of the Empire.”

“Who was it?”

Jai shook her head.

“No one remembers their name. We only call them the Great Invaders.”

“So, no one in Yggdrasil has seen combat for a long time.”

Jai smirked.

“I never said that. The Rocstóll has seen plenty of combat.”

“How so?”

Jai shrugged.

“Skirmishes, mostly.”

The next morning, Jai woke early to prepare for another Senate meeting. Though, this was a was budget meeting, so she wasn’t going to contribute much. And she hoped it would stay that way.

She put on a black dress she hadn’t worn yet. Brushing her hair out, she started plaiting her hair into a bun. Fox knocked on the side of the door, though she saw him in the mirror.

“You look beautiful.”

She smiled as she started putting on her makeup.

“Thank you, Love.”

Fox checked the time and realized that he needed to leave for work before she did. He kissed her cheek before leaving. Jai waited until she knew Fox was out of the building before she left as well. Running into Vinur as she was leaving. She smiled at her friend as she left.

Once the meeting ended, Jai and Vinur came back to Jai’s home. It had been a long day. But one that wasn’t about to end. It wasn’t long before her terminal started ringing. She and Vinur exchanged looks before going to her terminal. Pressing the answer button, all her sisters were there. Geirdiful looked incredibly shaken, so unlike her.

“Geir, why have you called this meeting?” Sigrún asked.

“I… I… I found the original recording.”

Everyone stared at her in stunned silence.

“Are you sure?” Olrun asked.

“Very.”

“Well, show us then!”

Geir shot Sigrún an uncertain look, before beginning the recording.

The sound of a door creaked open, and in walked… _Spirits!_ Jai couldn’t believe it! It was former Emperor Jacob! Empress Marie’s father!

“It’s important to seize an opportunity before it slides through your wrenched fingers.” Jacob’s smiled looked like he was a kid in the candy store. “The Nine have left their charges alone. This will be the perfect chance to execute our plan. You see, the past so often dies without passing on its bountiful secrets. But oh, Marie! The secrets you’ve left behind! How very interesting! Such knowledge! Such opportunity! The time draws near for a dark revival to come at last! Finally, I will have my revenge!”

This time, instead of ending, a new voice joined in.

“Our allies will ensure that you will once again sit upon the throne of the Yggdrasil Empire. And I assume I can count on your support in the future.”

“Of course, My Lord.”

When the recording ended, no one spoke. Sigrún was the first to speak, as she let loose an awful screech that made all the holos cut in and out. Sigrún looked so furious.

“Why…”

“Why would he do this?”

“Because he’s an abusive, evil, egomaniac!” Sigrún seethed.

The others exchanged looks. No one had ever seen her this angry.

But before anyone else could say anything, the sound of a horn sounded once… twice… thrice.

Invasion.


End file.
